FEAR
GOD
But his wife looked
back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26)
Ngozi Favour Anyaora
COPIED BY
DIVINE PERMISSION, (JULY 2012) BY,
THE RIGHTHAND
OF THE LORD FELLOWSHIP - LAGOS.
41, Babatunde Street OlodiApapa, Lagos.
Contact: 07035953642; 07087166359; 08034047014.
God's Life Ministries, Lagos, Nigeria.
Tel:080-354-730-07
E-mail: ngofavour2005@yahoo.com
CONTENTS
Facing reality …………….........................4
1. In the school of
submission………….................................7
- My faulty
reasoning………….........................................8
- First sign of God's
judgement…………..........................9
- Hospitals became my training ground……………….....11
- My daughter's strange
conditions………………............13
2. Assurance of God's presence………………………..........14
- March 27th
2005……………...........................................15
- Go and make
confessions………………........................16
- Don't let them pray for you…………………….............17
3. Back at home……………………………….......................18
- A
slip……………….......................................................19
- Strange
thought……………………...............................20
4. I have not finished with you yet……………………........21
- Submission is total…………………………….............21
- What if my husband does not love me?…………….....22
5. Area to
submit……………………………........................24
- In the area of
finance………………..............................24
- I submitted my money……………………....................25
- Submit the tongue………………………………...........26
- Submit the body……………………………..................28
- Submit in everything………………………...................28
6. God's Hierarchical arrangement of the
Home…….........29
- Divine order………………………….............................29
- Jezebel
order………………………................................30
- The ideal Godly
home………………….........................32
7. Exposure and judgement of the jezebel
spirit…………..35
- Features of jezebel spirit………………..........................35
- God's judgement on Jezebel spirit………………………….36
- The way
out…………………………...................................38
- Holy Ghost
School…………................................................38
8. Exposure of deceits in my life…………………………..........39
- Outward
appearance……………………….........................39
- Lies………………………………………...........................40
-
Hypocrisy………………………….....................................41
- For those in Holy Ghost school………………………........41
9. Further lessons learnt from the school of
submission……...43
- God can do without
you…………........................................43
- God resist the
proud……………………..............................44
- Effect of
insubordination……………...................................44
- Look inwards……………….................................................45
-
Transparency……………………………….........................46
- Service to my
husband…………………………..................47
10. Whose voice do you
hear?......................................................48
- The voice of
God…………...................................................49
- How to hear the voice of
God………...................................49
11. The will of
God…………………………................................51
- Do you know God's will for you?.........................................51
-
Conclusion……………………............................................53
FACING REALITY!
(An Introduction)
God took me to Holy Ghost school in
2003 and there He opened my eyes wonderfully to begin to know Him in a closer,
more intimate and powerful way. My relationship with Him became so steady and
sweet that He gave me some messages by revelation, and asked me to publish
them. That was how I wrote my first book; “The Journey Into The Wealthy Place”.
After I had written that book, I
sincerely thought that I had actually “arrived!” But little did I know that it
was only the beginning of the journey for me. Which journey? The journey to the
place of peace, joy and spiritual rest in Christ, in this life.The journey to
the perfect will of God; the journey to the place of abundant life which Christ
promised us; the journey to the realms of Christlikeness and life in the
Spirit. And so, I thought I had arrived, not knowing that I had only started! I
did not know that I had an over value of myself. My spiritual life was still
very far from what God had intended it to be, yet I knew it not. I was therefore
operating in pride, for high-thought of oneself is pride.
I was in this state of pride, ignorance and self-praise until the
next thing happened which nearly took my life and the life of my daughter. The
Lord visited me suddenly, dramatically and nearly consumed me, like a hungry
lion would consume a prey! (Hosea 5:14-15). He visited me to take me into the
next stage of my journey with Him. And what was the next stage? “Submission!”
“submission to my own husband!”
Yes, He came to personally take me
into this one thing that I hated so much, which was submission to my husband.
The Lord knew that this was one topic I hated so much and which no man or woman
could bring me into. He knew I wasn't
willing to give it a second thought any day. Yet He knew that was the next
thing I must get, else He would drop me from His end-time army! And so He came
to personally take me through it.
Sincerely speaking, I had never
known how serious the issue of submission to husband is to God until He visited
me in 2005. I had been a 'pastor' and a woman leader, and had interacted with
men and women of God at high levels, yet never had I got the least impression
that God could indeed even kill a wife today, in this modern time, for not
submitting to her husband! Yes, I knew
the story of Lot's wife and I knew that Jesus warned us to “remember Lot's
wife” (Luke 17:32), but then, it never really dawned on me that God can do it
in our time. I never knew it can be as serious today as it was in those days of
Lot!
And so the lion came to eat me up
because of my lack of submission to my husband, but His mercy finally saved me.
Hosea 5:14-15 says:
For
I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I,
even I, will tear and go away. I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will
go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence and seek my
face. In their affliction they will seek me early.
That was my experience in the hand
of the Almighty God as he came down to personally teach me
submission to my own husband, in accordance with His word.
Learning The Hard Way
God had to dump me in the hospital
for almost a year to teach me this one but crucial lesson of submission. As
long as my relationship with God was then, submission was a lesson I had
bluntly refused to learn and of which God had insistently reminded me. I never
really knew it was such a serious matter!
Right now as I write, my hands
shake even as I remember what I passed through to learn submission. There is
God and He must be revered and regarded. We must all fear God for even though
He is merciful, He is a terrible God also!
Having been in a position of
leadership in churches and fellowships as a pastor, vice president,
intercessory group leader, choir / praise leader, women leader, marriage
committee member and a house fellowship leader, I thought that occupying these
positions and discharging my duties in the church were enough to subdue and
silence the “still small voice” of God which kept on saying “Submission!”
“Submission!”“Submission!” within me.
But no one can manipulate God nor
can anyone hide away from His will. Even when we take cover under different
religious activities and positions, like I did, yet God's outstretched arms are
strong and long enough to reach us and deal with us.
His arms caught me amidst rebellion
and really got me broken totally. God must be feared and I really dread Him!
The same God reveals Himself as
both a lamb and a lion. I thought I was dealing with a lamb until God showed me
the other side of Him as a lion, because I struggled with Him over submission.
In the book of Isaiah 53: 7, the
scripture reads,
…He
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is
dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.
This is the picture of God that
many believers seem to have – a God we can treat any-how and no harm will come
to us. That had been my idea of God too. But now things have changed. Perhaps you have always experienced the
manifestation of God as a lamb, beware, because He is also a lion and a
consuming fire. (Hebrew 12: 29).
Also, according to David in Psalm
68: 35, He is “a terrible God.”
And so, God judged me, not just
because of disobedience to Him, but specifically because of His revealed will
which I knew but refused to do. I knew quite alright that God wanted me to
submit to my own husband; but just like Jonah, I tried to run away from His
will and so ended up in the whale of His judgement.
Knowing the will of God and
refusing to do it leaves God with no other option than exposition to
affliction. Sometimes, God exposes us to affliction so that we could obey Him
“by force.” And God's “obedience by compulsion” is always very painful because
we are met with either sickness, poverty or pains (Hosea 5: 13-15).
It becomes imperative therefore
that we should not wait to be afflicted by God before we know Him intimately
and before we submit to His will.
God chose to judge me indirectly
through my little daughter, as I will explain later. If He had judged me
directly, He would have destroyed me physically! I mean that I would have been
dead by now and unknown to many people, I would have gone to hell, with all my
religious titles and activities!
My insubordinate attitude to my own
husband nearly cost me my life. It took the mercy of God to keep me till now
and even up till this very moment, God is still watching to ascertain my full
obedience in that area.
I must thank God for His mercy unto
me, otherwise I would have been consumed in rebellion and disobedience.
Dear child of God, I would
encourage you to read with an open heart and be ready to obey God in all the
areas He has revealed His will to you. If you have not been living in
submission to your own husband, then be diligent to learn from my terrible
experience under God's judgement, as I now share the whole story with you. We
are indeed in the end-times, and so the issues of submission to husband is once
more taking a centre-stage in God's dealing with His daughters. The earlier we
get “under cover” (through submission) the better for us and our families. We should
not end up in the in the way of Lot's wife when His judgement comes!
CHAPTER 1
IN THE SCHOOL OF SUBMISSION
Beloved, as God kept on speaking to
me on the same issues of submission, I developed more resistance to His voice.
Even though I knew His will, which was for me to submit to my husband, yet I
decided to ignore it and lived on.
The Lord knew I was in error and I
was not ignorant of it too. I did not know that I was speedily heading towards
destruction and was too blinded by disobedience to realize how close I was to
hell. At this stage, I got more involved in religious duties, but was always
empty within. At a stage, I hypocritically asked for fresh words from God, to
confirm what I already knew was His will. I had my own deep resentment, and felt
that God should understand why I would not submit to my own husband. So I
wanted fresh word from God to counter what He had said to me earlier!
To my disappointment, the Lord told
me to refer to His previous word (which I knew) and that He does not waste
words.
It was a real struggle. The
rebellion continued with my increase involvement in religious activities. But
that did not over-rule the issue of submission.
Infact at this stage, God's rod of
affliction was already stretched out to judge me.
My Faulty Reasoning
Even though I had said this prayers
in Psalm 139 verses 23-24, which said;
“Search
me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there beany
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Yet it was difficult for me to
accept the Lord's answer when it came. I prayed every other prayer, asked for
forgiveness of all other errors in my life but never asked God to forgive my
disobedience to submit to my husband. Within me, I concluded that there was no
need for that since I had enough works to show forth as substitutes to
obedience.
Moreover, I felt that submission to
my husband had nothing to do with my salvation. “Would it contribute anything
to my relationship with God?” I queried in rebellion! But God did not give up
on the issue. He was determined to crush me to obedience.
In the book of 2 Corinthians 13:8,
the word of God said, “For we can do
nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
Outwardly, I pretended that I had a
good relationship with the Lord, but deep within me, I knew that God was not
pleased with me, particularly in that area of my Christian experience, but I
still held on to my own opinion about it.
I was in strife with the Almighty
God, but still went about ministering in churches and fellowships and was
really busy doing the “work of God!”
No
wonder God threw
me into the
hospital and told me
that there was the school of submission where I would learn submission
to my husband by force.
The First Sign Of God's Judgement
The Lord showed me a sign of His
terror, to prove to me that He could kill me if I refused to submit to my
husband. It was such a serious matter.
It happened that on one of the days
when my husband visited us (because he stayed in the eastern part of the
country then), that I shared my new experience in Holy Ghost school with him. I
even encouraged him to start his quiet time too. Then later in the day, when he
lay on the bed in the bedroom, something else happened. Certain resentment and
rebellion came over me and I asked him to move to the parlour and that I would
not sleep in the same bed with him. Remember he had visited us, so I really
treated him even less than a visitor! He looked at me with great surprise, but
I stood my ground. He knew that I was out for trouble. So, like a servant whose
master had rebuked, he got up, took
his pillow and went to the
parlour! Then the next thing happened which showed me that God has taken over.
Immediately he stepped out of the room, there came this frightening presence
that I could not avoid. I could neither shout nor run away. I sat there
trembling. My feet and hands became cold. I was separating from myself. In
fact, my spirit was leaving my body. God came to kill me! I could not cry. I
just sat there dying.
Suddenly, I heard the voice of the
Lord saying to me, “What are you doing there? Can't you see that you are dying?
Get up and apologize to your husband”. (He did not ask me to apologize to God,
but to my husband).
I got up and ran straight to the
parlour where my husband was lying, I knelt down beside him and began to
apologize for my misconduct. Death was all over me even as I begged him for
forgiveness. My life was being taken from me!
For more than an hour, I wept and
apologized as the Lord flogged me more and more.
It was later that my husband told
me that he actually lay in the parlour sorrowing and asking the Lord to please
intervene and put our home in order. It was an experience I would never forget,
the first of its type in my life – when the Lion nearly ate me up because of my
rebellion!
And so, with this experience fresh
in my mind, I tried to submit and be nice to my husband while he was with us.
But beloved, as soon as my husband
went back to the East, my heart hardened again. And soon I forgot everything
that happened and remained in control of our home again!
This is a warning to every woman
who has rearranged her position from being under her husband to being in
control of affairs at home. God's end-time judgement is now coming upon such
wives, the Lord told me, except they repent.
I must stress that for you to avoid
the judgement of God upon you, you must submit to your own husband now, before
God visits!
The School Proper (God's Judgement in Full)
I write with reverential fear to
the Almighty God in whose hands my family and I are preserved. It happened that
early last year (2005), the Lord released His judgement upon me to teach me
submission to my husband.
Suddenly my four-year old child
started having all kinds of problems, ranging from fever, frequent stooling to
rashes all over her body.
A brother who saw my child's
condition suddenly told me that God was calling my attention to a very urgent
issue, using that medium. Precisely, he mentioned my lack of submission to my
husband and said that God was angry with
me. He said this, even though he didn't know about my struggles with God
in that area! It was a confirmation to what I already knew but refused to do.
These were the words of the man of
God as he looked at me sternly:
You are the cause of this child's
problem. God is dealing with you in the area of submission. He is judging you
because of your lack of submission to your husband.
Yes, if your husband rebukes you,
you fight back! If he corrects you, you flare up and refuse to take correction.
God has been trying to get your attention in this area, to discipline you and
get you to obey your husband, but you have remained unruly and stubborn. Now He
has come to correct you through your child's strange ailments since He couldn't
correct you through your husband.
So what else can you do? Who again
will you fight? If this has been your
husband, you would have yelled at him and thrown him away from your sight. Now
do the same to this your child and let us see!...
With these prophetic words, this
man of God left my sick child and I, and went back to his room. He only asked
me to urgently repent and make peace with God and with my husband, so that the
child's condition would not worsen.
At this stage I knew there was
danger and could read vividly God's handwriting on the wall!
Hospitals Became My Training Ground
Precisely on the 27th of March,
2005 (Easter Sunday), my journey in the school of submission took a new turn,
as we headed for the hospital. It was the first hospital though, for we were to
pass through six hospitals on the whole! That day marked the beginning of what
would turn out to be a prolonged period of hospitalization, living in the
hospitals for almost one full year!
It was an experience that dried up
both my flesh and my bones, for even though my child was ill, I was the one
dying. God's judgement came mightily upon me through my child's strange
sicknesses!
As she lay motionless for several
months, both my will, money, strength and ego, which I had held on to, all
failed. I crashed totally.
Fear grabbed me that I couldn't
even pray beyond these words:
“Oh God, Father, have mercy on me”.
It was the prayer of mercy that I
said throughout our stay in the hospitals because I knew what was happening to
me. God's judgement was upon me!
Even in the hospitals, God withdrew
every human wisdom, to show me that no human wisdom could save me and that none
could help the situation. So, the doctors could not improve the situation even
with all their efforts. One of the doctors even told me at a stage that no man
could help me!
God withdrew even the help of
medical science so as to get me focused on Him, because the whole arrangement
was from Him. And as long as He had not finished with me, every effort to
improve the situation proved abortive. I was left at the mercy of God!
God even used my little daughter's
condition to highlight some of the problems I had. For instance, sometimes when
the child's mouth shook, the Lord would tell me that I still had problems with
the use of my tongue. With each manifestation of any part of her body, God used
it to draw my attention to the wrong use of that part of my own body, including
my tongue, my mouth, my stiff neck and so on.
My Daughter's Strange Conditions
You may begin to wander what it was
that kept us in hospitals for so long, almost a year! It was my daughter 's
strange conditions which kept medical authorities puzzled. If it was not
something that was divinely controlled, my daughter would have been dead the
very first month or even earlier.
What started like normal fever and
stooling soon degenerated by day, to include strange cough, weakness of the
body, until it got worse. By now my daughter's neck had become so feeble that
it could not support her head again. Her neck couldn't carry the head anymore!
Her head kept falling from side to side and couldn't rest on the neck anymore.
Her limbs (hands and feet) soon
began to loose their strength as if they had no more bones in them, until she
couldn't stand nor hold anything. A child of four years should eat easily, but
now I have to start all over again to feed her as a baby. Even at that, at
times she could not swallow the food. At times she would just throw the whole
food on me as if she was deliberately saying to me, “you are the cause of all
these.”
Finally her entire body became
motionless; she couldn't move any part of her body! She remained in that
motionless state for many months.
Please note that God was not the
one afflicting my daughter. No. It was my rebellion that opened the door of
affliction upon my daughter and upon my entire family. God only allowed it, so
as to use it to get my attention and to deal with me and correct me.
Released To Go Home
It was a real school setting! God
taught me, and compelled me to learn submission to my husband for that is the
greatest duty of a woman on earth.
After living for some months in
hospitals, God discharged us and allowed us to go home and told me that He
would still watch my attitude to my husband even at home.
We visited about six hospitals in
Lagos (including LUTH and Orthopaedic hospital, Igbobi) before the Lord's anger
came down!
By this time God had got me totally
broken and then placed me in my proper position – under my husband.
I must confess that this is the
Lord's doing and it is marvellous in my eyes. It took only God to have that
perfect arrangement in my home and I am glad He did it.
Beloved, there is no alternative to
submission to one's husband. If you are not submissive to your husband, you are
rebellious to God (your riches or social status or religious work not
withstanding)! Your submission to your husband is of paramount importance and
it determines your standing with God. I learnt this truth the hard way.
CHAPTER 2
ASSURANCE OF GOD'S PRESENCE
God used several means to assure me
of His presence right there in the hospitals. He really helped me to understand
clearly what He was doing and that He desired my submission to my husband.
He used these means to assure me
that He was the one who allowed what was happening to happen and not the devil.
Some of them were:
God's Spoken Word
The greatest anchor I had then in
the hospital was the spoken word of God. He spoke to me several times to
explain to me what I needed to know and understand. He told me that He allowed
the situation and that He would make all things beautiful in His own time. He
told me that the more submissive I became to my husband, the better my child's
health would become. He made it clear to me that He was the one dealing with me
and not the enemy. He was using the situation which my rebellion caused to
train me and remake my life.
Financial Provision
Throughout our stay in the
hospitals we did not lack money for feeding, school fees, to buy drugs and even
to settle hospital bills.
There was a test we had to run for
forty-five thousand naira and how the money came was a surprise to me. God made
available the money. He raised help for
us throughout our stay, finance was not a problem to us.
God's Direction
While in the hospitals, the Lord
taught me how to relate to the nurses, how to avoid arguments with them
and so on.
God even told me which drug to stop
using at a particular time. And surprisingly as He said it, the doctors would
discontinue the use of that particular drug.
He also taught me to confess His
word and believe His own report about the situation instead of believing
medical report. It was a “bitter sweet” experience – so hurting, yet sweet. I
remain grateful to God.
God Raised Intercessors For Me
I was told that a sister in Holy
Ghost School saw herself in a dream praying for a child whose neck could not
hold. She did not know whose child but she prayed and the child was healed.
Meanwhile at this stage, my child's neck could not hold.
So when I heard this I was
encouraged. It was a further confirmation that God was the One in charge and
had even raised people to intercede for me even without their knowing me.
27th March, 2005 (Easter Sunday)
I am not good at remembering dates
of events, but the above date is so significant to me that it cannot leave my
memory just like that.
It was on that day that we went to
the first hospital on admission. Please remember that I am still sharing with
you of the different ways God used to assure
me of His presence while in the hospitals.
That day was Easter Sunday - A day
of resurrection. It is a significant day in the life of every Christian because
it reminds us of the basis of our faith – the resurrection of Jesus Christ who
was crucified on Good Friday.
In the book of 1 Corinthians 15:4,
the word of God said,
“And if Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain”.
God used that day as an indication
of what He would eventually do; for He told me that He would resurrect both my
child and everyone of us in my family as long as I keep submitting to my
husband.
God knows the end of all things
right from the beginning. He is the alpha and omega. He allowed the
hospitalization to start on Easter Sunday, a day of resurrection, as a sign to
me that our dry bones would rise again!
So, each time I remembered the day,
I rejoiced in hope, knowing that God would resurrect us at last. He would
release His life into our situation and we would live again. Praise be to the
Lord Most High who eventually resurrected my child wholly, according to His
word of promise. Our God cannot lie! (Titus 1:2). Hallelujah!
Go And Make Confessions.
Even though God was angry with me,
and was judging me, yet He still cared for me and did not want us to perish out
of ignorance. His presence was still with us.
In one of the first hospitals we
were admitted, the case got so bad that we were kept in the intensive care
unit, where various tubes were passed through my daughter for her to remain
alive.
Then, one night, when I had come to
the end of my self, the Lord visited me in His mercy to give me direction. He
directed me to go and make confession to a certain man of God, lest I perish in
His judgment.
“What are you doing here? Do you
want this child to die? Don't you know what is happening to you? Don't you know
that my judgement is upon you because of your wickedness and rebellion to your
husband?
Now go to my servant and make a
confession. Go and confess your rebellion and lack of submission to your
husband. Go and confess the rebellion you lived in all these years…”
It sounded something like that.
These instructions came to me, but there was no way I could get out of the
hospital to go to the man of God because my child was under the intensive care.
So I asked the Lord to please make it possible for me to go and confess.
You know, all the Lord requires
from us is willingness. Once we are willing to obey, He will always make a way.
So the next morning, the doctor came and referred us to an external medical
laboratory for certain analysis. I then saw that as an opportunity to go and
confess to the man of God. So, I quickly dashed into the place of the man of
God and at once confessed all that the Lord laid on my heart. It was all about
my rebellious attitude to my husband.
The man of God was so shocked to
see my child and I in such awful conditions that he was speechless at first. We
were like two skeletons (one bigger than the other). Only the faint and feeble
breathing of my child showed that she was still alive. This was the same man of
God through whose mouth the Lord had told me at the early stage that the
sickness was a result of my lack of submission to my husband. The Lord sent me
to make these confessions out of His love and care, for the confessions were to
hasten up our healing and restoration. It was comforting to know, though these
ministrations from the Lord, that His presence was still with us.
Don't Let Them Pray For You
At the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital (LUTH), something else happened that still confirmed God's presence
with us. There were these Christians who visited the hospital from time to time
to pray for the patients. As they came to our ward, the Lord warned me that He
wouldn't want to see them pray for us, for we were not sick!
“You know what is happening to
you,” He said. “You know you are not sick. My hand of judgement is upon you for
your lack of submission to your husband. I will keep you in the hospital until
I have broken you sufficiently for you to become a good wife, submissive to
your own husband.
You are not sick, you are being
judged for rebellion. Therefore, don't let anyone come and pray for you as if
you are sick. If you keep quiet and allow them pray for you for healing, you
know what I would do.
You should confess to them that you
are not sick, but that my hand of judgment is upon you. Tell them your faults,
and then they may only pray for my mercy!
That was another demonstration of
God's presence and care even in the midst of His severe dealings! If He had not
spoken to warn and direct me, I would have prolonged our stay in the hospitals,
perhaps.
CHAPTER 3
BACK AT HOME
Dear reader, the training did not
just end in the hospitals. It continued at home. The Lord told me that He
discharged us from the hospitals so as to continue with me at home on the same
topic of submission.
At home, I felt a bit relieved,
like a bird released from the cage, but it took me time to adjust fully to my
normal domestic activities, having spent almost a year living in the hospitals.
Also, I felt like a stranger who
was newly accepted into a family that she was not used to. Throughout our stay
in the hospitals, I only visited home occasionally. So, now, I felt like a
stranger in our home!
God explained to me that He allowed
me to taste how it pains to be a visitor in one's own home (especially in my
own home where I had been fully in control).
Earlier on, before the hospital
experiences started, my stubborn and rebellious actions had kept my husband
away from home and he only visited his own home occasionally. He stayed in the
eastern part of the country as a result of my rebellion, while I was here in
Lagos with our children, controlling the affairs of the family. What an
abomination for the head of the family to become a visitor in his own home while
the woman became the one in control!
I only had to plead with my husband
over the phone to please return to his home, when I saw the judgement of the
Lord coming.
Beloved, if this
looks like the
arrangement of things
in your own
home, note that
the evil spirit of Jezebel is in control. It is a very wicked spirit
which fights every God ordained purpose and also calls evil good.
It deceived me to believe then that
my actions were right. Therefore, if you do not want the judgement of God upon
you, please remain in submission to your own husband.
The Lessons Continued
Back at home, the lessons continued
on the same topic. I became more conscious of God's presence than before. It
became obvious to me that the same God who “maketh alive” also killeth. He
'killed' my flesh and reminded me that no flesh can stand before Him.
A Slip!
There was this incident that
happened at home after our release from the hospital. I slipped back and
challenged my husband on one occasion. It had to do with food in the house. The
same moment I challenged my husband over food, my child started vomiting and
eventually vomited everything she had eaten and could not eat for the next two
days!
This eventually took us back to the
hospital where we stayed for some days. The Lord discharged us in His mercy and
warned me not to dictate to my husband concerning food anymore.
I used the word 'challenged' here
because actually I challenged my husband and spoke harshly to him instead of
having a discussion with him on the issue of feeding, if need be.
Let me explain here that I do not
imply that we (women) should not discuss issues with our husbands at all. No,
What I mean is that we should discuss issues concerning the family together
according to the leading of the Lord.
In that case, the woman should
speak politely to the husband, knowing fully well that he is the head. That was
actually the lesson that God wanted to teach me then.
So, I began to learn gradually how
a woman should behave and submit herself under her husband. I was not used to
that so I became more interested to learn all it entailed to be into marriage
and to be under my husband. Remember I was new in this field of submission. It
was a new life, so I really had to learn it.
I learnt how to speak politely to
my husband, that even when my mother once visited us, she remarked that my
attitude has changed for good.
Also, I learnt to avoid challenging
him, instead I resorted to dialogue with him. Sometimes I had to ask God for
wisdom before I spoke to my husband. I was really dying to flesh. The terror of
God was all over me. And He was watching everything I thought, or said or did,
especially concerning my husband!
The Lord told me that the way He
handled me was just the manifestation of His mercy. That if He, God, had judged
me face to face, I would have been dead physically.
That brought more fear on me. I was
therefore determined to learn the lessons and to pass the exams. Then I became
quieter and more gentle at home and more active outside, which was opposite of
my former life.
I learnt to apologize to my husband
anytime I felt I was rude to him. I apologized for everything I did which I
felt was displeasing to him. At a stage, the apologies became so embarrassing
to him that he told me to stop coming with them. My knees had become flexible
enough to kneel down at any short notice in apology to my husband.
I became selective with my words
and actions at home.
It was really a serious lesson. At
this stage also, I began to appreciate my husband and acknowledge that I was
really not complete without him. He became more handsome, more caring, more
wonderful – in my eyes. I began to see the good in him which Jezebel spirit had
not allowed me to see all along.
Strange Thought
Along the line, something happened
which was a clear distraction. The enemy attempted to bring me back to the old
way, but failed. It happened through satanic thought-manipulation!
A negative thought came into me and
I suddenly began to feel as if the whole arrangement was a bondage! The thought
that probably my husband used “something” on me to keep me under his control,
came into me! Jezebel spirit was releasing her missiles of counter attack, to
get me back into her net, and I was fast yielding grounds to her. Even though
it was clear to me that the Lord allowed the arrangement of things to be as it
was, yet I was both troubled and confused as I kept listening to the voice of
the stranger within me.
God's Answer
The Lord did not keep me in the
dark of what He was doing, both in my life and in my home. Therefore, He
corrected the wrong thought and told me that He was in the process of making my
life beautiful.
He further explained to me that He
was answering my husband's prayer of putting our home in order. And that since
my husband could not correct me because of my stubbornness, He, God came into
our home to break and correct me by Himself.
Moreover, the Lord said that I had
been a hindrance to His full manifestation in our home. And since He wanted to
begin His own programme (will) in our home, every hindrance must give way. I
was one of the hindrances; hence the Lord's judgment on me.
I was surprised when the Lord
quickly added to me;
“Now you have started your own
journey into the wealthy place of My will for you!”
I had written a book earlier,
titled, “The Journey Into The Wealthy Place”, which spoke of how we should
enter into the place of spiritual rest, in His presence. I thought then that I
had already entered into that wealthy place. But the Lord was now telling me
that I had just started the journey!
After these things, there came a
time I relaxed and thought that everything was over. I was now a perfect,
submissive wife. Just then the Lord told me that He had not finished with me
yet, in the area of submission to my husband! And so the lessons continued.
CHAPTER 4
“I HAVE NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET”
Said the Lord.
“You have not finished with me?” I
rather retorted.
“Yes, I have not finished yet”, the
Lord answered.
“Will you take me back to the
hospital this time around?” I asked frantically, remembering all I had passed
through in the hospitals.
There was no direct answer from the
Lord. He didn't say 'yes', He didn't say 'no'. Instead He told me to keep
following His leading and to yield completely to His will.
Fear really grabbed me because the
thought of my experiences in the hospitals had not left me. So, I kept on
yielding to the leading of the Lord,
especially in the area of submission to my husband.
Here are some more lessons that I
learnt as the Lord's dealing continued with me.
Submission Is Total
Submission should not be partial
but should be done in its totality, the Lord taught me. A woman must submit to
her own husband in every area of her life. Even when she thinks the husband is
wrong in his decisions, the woman should still submit to him after she has
gently explained. Perhaps, the decisions may eventually fail, then the man will
see his mistakes by himself. The woman's duty is to submit to her husband in
every situation, nothing less.
At this stage one may ask: “What if
I am working and earning enough money, should I not control the affairs of the
home since I am financially empowered?”
Do not be disappointed to hear 'No'
as the answer. Beloved, that was exactly the starting point of my problem. The
moment I started having some income, I felt I had climbed up to the ladder of a
breadwinner. I later discovered that was the very point from which I drifted
away from the will of God for my home.
When God provides for a home
through the woman, it does not mean that she is now the head of that family. It
is simply a privilege from God for her to be in that position.
We should also remember that God
gives a woman to a man as a helper unto him. God knows that as the wife of that
man, you are the fitted help that he needs and so God has given you to him.
So, should we neglect our duties to
our husbands? Should we abuse and misuse the God-given privilege to us? Wives,
we should be appreciative to God who has given us that man as husband!
Therefore, wives should submit,
obey and respect their husbands in
everything, the Lord said to me. God also counts a woman's submission to her
husband as obedience to God Himself. It then implies that when a woman submits
to her own husband, she has actually obeyed God.
No woman in the light of the word
of God is qualified to answer a woman of God if she is not submissive to her
own husband! (See 1 Peter 3: 1-6).
What If I Submit, But My Husband Does Not Love Me?
According to Ephesians 5:22, the
scripture reads:
“Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
Therefore, your own duty as a wife
is to submit to your husband first. Even if the husband is such a difficult man
or he is an unbeliever, you should still go ahead and do your own part which is
submission to him. (1 Peter 3:1-6). Why? Because on the day of accountability,
the Lord will not require of you how much you were loved and appreciated by
your husband before obeying your own part of the scripture. He would rather
judge you concerning your obedience to the Lord in the area of submission to
your own husband.
If you think your husband is wicked
or maltreats you, do not worry, God knows about it. His grace is sufficient for
you to obey Him (God) by submitting to your husband. God will surely help you,
especially when He sees your readiness and determination to do so.
Also, note that verse 25 of the
same book of Ephesians reads;
“Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.” (5:25).
Now, for the above verse to come
later in the arrangement of the scripture signifies that in order of
precedence, submission of a wife to her husband comes first before her
husband's love for her. That is, in verses 22-24, wives are commanded to submit
to their husbands first, before their husbands are commanded to love them in
verse 25.
So, when you submit to your husband
and you think he still does not love you, this shouldn't worry you. Remember he
is directly accountable to God who instructed him to love his wife. So allow
God to touch, and handle him, in due course – when your own submission to him
is fulfilled. Some women are disobedient and arrogant to their husbands. They
also fail to be submissive to them with the reason that they are not loved by
their husbands.
Beloved, the scripture cannot be
broken; you must first submit to him, then the Lord whom you have obeyed will
touch the heart of your husband to love you in return, for the heart of your
husband is in the hand of God, and He has the power to turn it to any
direction. (Proverbs 21:1).
Also, remember that your submission
to your husband is not dependent on his loving you. This point must be well-understood!
You submit because the word of God said that you should do so! Therefore, you
are working in obedience to the word of the Lord. When your obedience is
fulfilled, the Lord will surely reward and bless you in return (2 Corinthians
10:6).
CHAPTER 5
AREAS TO SUBMIT
You still remember that God said
that He had not finished with me yet. Was I really ready for yet another
encounter then? Not quite, but God's grace helped me to yield to His tutelage.
He was really doing a great work of further breaking and moulding me into His
desired pattern.
It was at this stage that the words
of Job in chapter 13, verse 15 which read,
“Though
He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”,
became more meaningful to me. Then it was obvious to me that the Lord desired
my total submission to my husband. Then came the 'bombshell': submission in the
area of FINANCE.
The Lord kept us in a hospital for
another seven weeks to teach me submission in the area of finance! I knew I
could not escape the presence of God because He was all over me. Therefore I
kept yielding to Him. Let me not bother you with the details here. But suffice
it to say that, after sleeping on the floor in the hospital for a month and
three weeks, I learnt this aspect of submission!
In my opinion, I learnt this more
quickly than others considering the “short period” of seven weeks it took.
Others took me many months more!
Before then, I had the control of
finance in the home. I gave instructions how money should be spent and I
brought it for use at my disposal. I was really in charge!
In addition, I felt I was
economically empowered, therefore I intimidated my husband in so much measure
that he had little or no say in the affairs of the home. (God forgive me). My
husband is not a man of much words, so he kept quiet for peace to reign at
home. I gave him “pocket money” and sent him on “errands!” it was that bad, I
must confess.
I felt so independent that he was
not part of decision making at home. I took decisions alone without consulting
him and without his consent.
Dear reader no evil thrives for a
long time, for the Lord makes an end of it suddenly. In his closet my husband
would cry and pray to God to touch me and make me a humble and peaceful wife.
So, after these additional seven
weeks in the hospital, the Lord discharged us and told me to hand over all my
monthly earnings to my husband. That was the condition of our discharge.
God had already broken all my
resistance so my obedience was instant. Moreover the thought of the hospital
experience kept me in check. I therefore decided to obey fully.
I Submitted My Money
At the end of that particular
month, I called my husband, told him what the Lord had said and then handed
over my monthly earnings to him.
My husband was greatly surprised
and in his astonishment shouted “thank God!” he thanked God because He knew
that God had answered his prayers of making me both a humble and a submissive
wife. It was really a great miracle considering the height of pride from which
the Lord brought me down to humility.
Soeveryday as our first daughter
asks for her transport money to school from her father, I also beg for
transport money to work. Sometimes I would not get exactly the amount I needed!
Our daughter observed this new
arrangement for some time and said to me; “mummy, but you should have your own
money to buy things for me.” Then I replied her; “my dear, power has changed
hand in this home. Whatever you need now tell your daddy.Daddy is now in
control and not mummy.
Gradually life and confidence
started coming back into my husband and on another occasion he said, “Thank you
God for giving me a humble wife.” Of a truth, the Lord has no respect for any
person. He really judged the wickedness in me and I cannot help but exclaim,
“Wives, submit to your own husbands.”
Beloved, this may not be the exact
situation in your own home, but note that on no account should a woman control
the finance of a home and even use that as a reason to usurp authority. There
may be some homes where the husband decides to keep his own earnings and the
wife hers, but if at anytime the husband asks the wife for her money, she
should willingly submit it. If he needs her advice on how to spend it, she
should politely give him. That was what the Lord taught me. That is God's word!
There was a day the Lord asked me
if I would still submit to my husband even if that meant having no money of my
own? Then I answered that His sufficient grace would do it for me. And indeed
the grace of God has been sufficient at each level of this training.
Therefore a wife should submit her
finance to her husband as well as everything else, so says the word of God.
(Ephesians 5:24).
God Sees Our Hearts
Everything
is open to the eyes of the Almighty God. Nothing is hidden from Him with whom
we have to do (Hebrews 4: 13).
My husband now kept the family
fund, but then, I would always ask how it was spent! Then the Lord showed me
this wrong attitude through a revelation. In the revelation, I was in a car
with my husband. My husband was driving but I kept trying to dictate the speed
and how he should avoid potholes on the road. He ignored me and kept on
driving.
The Lord then explained to me that
even though I had handed over all my earnings to my husband, yet I was still
trying to be in control since I would always ask for the balance of the family
income.
He reminded me of the implication
of partial obedience. God further explained to me that He, God is our Father
who caters for our daily needs (Matthew 6:9, 11). He, God, is our breadwinner,
therefore I should not get worried over the general maintenance of our home.
He, God, is now our Breadwinner and so I should not worry myself, anymore. That
was how I surrendered totally in that area and never asked how much was spent
nor do I bother to know the balance anymore. And I must say that God has been
faithful to His word in providing for us.
Submit The Tongue
Another major area that a woman
should submit to her husband is in the USE OF THE TONGUE (WORDS). This is an
important area of submission of the wife to her husband. Please permit me to
still use my experience as an example to buttress this point.
Previously I was very rude to my
husband and gave no regard to his words. I spoke harshly to him and was very
stubborn to him too.
While at home I was highly
commanding, but outside my home, I appeared very gentle outwardly. (Do not be
deceived by outward appearance).
Sometime when he wanted to talk to
me, he would first pray to God for a smooth discussion that would not end in
argument. And often times, the discussion ended in hot argument because I would
not accept his own words but would insist that my words be executed at home.
It was hard to believe that such a
gentle looking woman (a woman of God) could exhibit such wickedness towards her
husband, but it happened.
The word of God clearly said in 1
Peter 3:1-6,
“Likewise, ye wives, be
in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation (conduct, behaviour) of the
wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose
adorning let it not be that of outward adorning of the plaiting of hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
But let it be the
hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of
a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner
in the old time the holy women also, who trusted God, adorned themselves, being
in subjection unto their own husbands.
Even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord: whose daughter ye are, as long as ye do well, and
are not afraid with any amazement.
Wives should speak respectfully to
their husbands for by so doing they would be won unto the Lord if they are
unbelievers.
A closer look at the book of
Proverbs chapters 31 reveals a woman who is not just virtuous because of her
diligence but because she “opens her mouth with wisdom.” No wonder her husband
and the entire household call her blessed!
“She
opens her mouth in wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” (vs 26).
After my encounter with the Lord, I
learnt how to speak respectfully to my husband. I learnt how to say 'sorry' and
how to use 'please' while making some requests from him.
Now my home knows the peace of God
since the Lord circumcised my tongue.
May God bless you as you open your
own mouth with wisdom even when you talk to your husband, in Jesus name.
Submit The Body
In the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 verses 3-5, the scripture read,
“Let
the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife
unto the husband.
The wife hath not power of her own
body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own
body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for
a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together
again, that satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”
Therefore, the woman is for the
man; the man for the woman.
It was hard for me to submit to my
husband in this area. I thought that since he now controlled the finance, at
least I should keep my body to myself. I wanted desperately to be in control of
something at least! But the Lord told me to surrender all, including my body.
A woman should not defraud her
husband the pleasure of her body no matter her resentments!
Submit In Everything
Finally, wives are to submit to
their husbands in everything. That is what God's word has said. The few
examples I gave above were just the areas that gave me real tough time. They
were the areas that hit me so hard when God's judgment came upon me, otherwise
we are to submit in all things.
Wives, be subject (be
submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands (as service) to the Lord…
as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything
to their husbands. [Ephesians 5:22-24 (AMP)]
CHAPTER 6
GOD'S HIERARCHICAL ARRANGEMENT OF A HOME
God created the man first and later
gave him the woman as a helper. So out of the ribs of a man, the woman was
made. That means that the woman is actually part of man.
Therefore by the Lord's
arrangement, the man comes first, followed by the woman who is made from him.
The illustration below reveals
God's divine order of a home, as the Lord taught me.
‘figure1' shows an ideal Godly home
where God is the head of all. In this type of home, God is accorded His
sovereignty as the Father of all.
The next person is the man
(husband) followed by the woman (wife).
“Arrow A” indicates that God gives
instructions to the man while “arrow B” shows the man's accountability unto
God.
“Arrow C” shows the true position
of a woman – under the man, which also implies that she is directly accountable
to her husband. This Divine Order agrees with God's Word in 1 Corinthians 11:3
which says:
But
I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is the man…(1 Corinthians 11:3).
Nowadays however, some women, even
some Christian women, put their husbands under them in the name of “women
liberation.” There is no level of liberty or freedom that allows a woman to be
above her husband!
It therefore implies that in any
home where the woman assumes authority and be at the helm of affairs, the
Spirit of God is not in control of things there. In such a place, the spirit in
control is Jezebel. Jezebel is the spirit responsible for every lack of
submission to husband.
In that type of home, you have an
arrangement that looks like this:
'Figure 2' shows a woman who is in
control of the home. She assumes the position of leadership at home and even
gives instructions to her husband and doesn't respect him. Such a woman may
claim to be a Christian and even intimidates and challenges the husband with
words like, “The Lord told me this or that, and I must obey Him whether you
like it or not”.
The truth is that the Lord might
not have told her anything but Jezebel spirit, because God is not the author of
confusion. She merely hides under religion to intimidate her husband!
This arrangement is an abomination
before God. It thwarts the eternal purpose of God for that home, except she
repents (Malachi 4:5-6). Ironically, such a woman may answer a 'great' woman of
God and may even be performing miracles in the church and fellowships. This is
Jezebel (wicked) spirit in operation and God will judge every spirit of Jezebel
(Revelation 2:20-23).
This is what the Bible says of such
a person:
But
I have this against you: because you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls
herself a prophetess (claiming to be inspired), and who is teaching and leading
astray my servants…(Revelation 2:20).
Women, time has come and now is the
time for us to take stock of our Christian lives. We should fear God and repent
before Him.
Beloved child of God, for how long
should we continue to provoke the Almighty God to anger? Remember, God does not
behold iniquity. Our Father forbids evil.
Therefore we should flee from every
appearance of evil no matter its subtlety. Let's go to God and ask Him to
expose and purge every appearance of the wicked spirit of Jezebel in our lives,
so that we may not perish in the end!
Biblical Arrangement
The Lord's arrangement of a home
will be better understood from the account in the book of Ephesians chapter 5
verses 22-25 which said,
Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the
Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the
wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.”
The word of God has not changed and
will never change no matter how deceitfully some believers handle it. God's
word is for ever settled and established.
Some Christian women seem to have
written their own Bible in their hearts by interpreting the word of God to suit
their own selfish ambitions. This is evil and God is not pleased with such
acts. He has also warned us not to add or take away from His word.
No matter how rich or influential a
woman is, no matter her religious work or position, if she is not under her
husband, she has no spiritual covering. She is spiritually exposed and in
danger of destruction – as it happened to the wife of Lot!
The Ideal Godly Home
The ideal Godly home is the one
that has God as the head Who directs all the affairs of that home – as earlier
shown in “Figure 1”.
The next in authority is the man
who is the head (covering) of the woman. Then the woman who is under her
husband.
I want to add here that God speaks directly to
the woman too, but she should not act in rebellion against the husband. Before
a woman acts on the instructions that the Lord has given her, she should first
ask God for the wisdom on how to go about it, especially when it concerns her
home or her husband.
For instance if the Lord reveals to
the woman that her family would relocate to another city, she should not try to
execute the plans in isolation. She must first of all share the revelation with
her husband, then together both of them should seek the face of the Lord for
confirmation and direction.
Even if the husband is an
unbeliever, the wife still needs to share the revelation with him. If he is not
in agreement, the wife should not challenge him on that issue, rather she
should report back to God, the author of that revelation.
It is in God's hand to decide what
to do and how best to handle the heart of that husband to convince him, for the
heart of the man is in God's hand (Proverbs 21:1).
Last year (2005) the Lord told me
that He would relocate my family to another house of His will for us.
Eventually when the house manifested, I had problems accepting it because it
was far from my place of work. When I told my husband about the house, because
it came through my office, he rejoiced and concluded that we should relocate
immediately.
Eventually the Lord told me that my
husband was right because he spoke His (God's) mind. And so we relocated. It
was a lesson to me! The lesson is that God can touch the heart of any man, to
act in accordance with His will! Therefore, wives need not worry.
Another Example
Like I mentioned earlier, if the
husband takes undue advantage of the wife because she is submissive to him, we
should remember that he has his own head too. His head is God and He knows how
to break even the most hardened man (Proverb 21:1). Therefore the wife is to
submit in everything, while leaving the husband to God, who is his head.
For instance, there was a day I
begged my husband to help me process something in a bank. He refused bluntly
and did not even look at the documents to be processed even when I wanted to
show them to him.
I felt bad and then concluded
within me that I would try to do it myself the next day.
To my surprise, the next morning my
husband asked for those documents and what he would actually do for me in the
bank.
When he saw how surprised I was, he
told me that he had a dream the previous night and in the dream he saw himself
doing something in a bank, so he understood he should go to the bank for that
purpose.
That settled the whole matter as my
husband willingly went to the bank to process those documents for me, even when
he had to go twice!
Beloved, you see what I mean: God
intervened and ministered to my husband by Himself. In this case, my husband
actually obeyed God who is His head and not me.
There was also this story in the
Bible about how Joseph had wanted to put away his wife, Mary, because he
noticed she was pregnant before they came together. How was the problem solved?
God Himself touched Joseph and that was all! God revealed to him in a dream to
accept Mary because she was convinced of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 1:18-24). We
were not told that Mary tried to defend herself, nor did she do anything to
oppose her husband. She allowed God to do it for her and so it happened.
In conclusion of this chapter, let
us hear this word of the Lord in the book of John chapter 13 verse 17 which
said,
“If
ye know these things (truth), happy are you if ye do them.”
As you submit to your husband
according to the arrangement of God, God will beautify your home. And the joy
of the Lord shall strengthen you also in Jesus name.
CHAPTER 7
EXPOSURE AND JUDGMENT OF THE JEZEBEL
SPIRIT
Every Jezebel spirit must be exposed
and judged. This spirit should not be harboured by anybody. It is a very wicked
spirit which works against every God ordained order and manipulates its way
into leadership positions.
This
spirit has grabbed almost every aspect of society and even holds some ministers
and their ministries to ransom.
According
to Francis Frangipane in his book, “The three Battle Grounds,” …To understand
the spirit of Jezebel, we must understand the genesis of this personality in
the Bible.
The first mention of Jezebel is
seen in the rebellious, manipulative wife of king Ahab. It was actually this
spirit, operating through queen Jezebel, which had caused over ten million
Hebrews, all but seven thousand faithful souls, to bow to baal. Jezebel caused
them to forsake the covenant, destroy the sacred altars and kill the prophets”
(I Kings 19:14-18).
“This one spirit was almost totally
responsible for corrupting an entire nation, and this principality has come
full force against our nation.
Beloved, we need to know the
diverse operations of this spirit so that as a believer you can easily discern
it even in your own life and pray against it.
It was this same spirit that held
me bound, deceived me to assume control over my husband, thereby lived in total
disobedience to the will of God, for several years.
Perhaps, your own experience is
different but we should fight against the slightest sign of this spirit in our
lives and homes.
Features Of Jezebel Spirit
I will implore you to read this
account carefully for it will help you to identify the spirit of Jezebel and to
know if you are under its influence.
According to Frangipane, “Jezebel
is fiercely independent and intensely ambitious for pre-eminence and control.
Jezebel will not dwell with anyone unless she can control and dominate the
relationship.”
“When she seems submissive or
servant-like, it is only for the sake of gaining some strategic advantage. From
her heart, she yields to no one.”
Beloved, I am sure you are looking
into your life vis-à-vis the description above. And if it describes you at all,
I encourage you to cry to God to deliver you from Jezebel spirit before it
destroys you.
“Look for Jezebel to target woman
who are embittered against men, either through neglect or misuse of authority.
This spirit operates through women who, because of insecurity, jealousy or
vanity, desire to dominate others.
Jezebel
is there behind the woman who publicly humiliates her husband with her tongue,
and thereafter controls him by his fear of public embarrassment”. (Frangipane
added).
The spirit of Jezebel should not be
compromised with. It can even destroy a whole generation if its operations are
not checked and erased on time. It is as serious as that!
God's Judgement On Jezebel Spirit
Even though I held different
positions in churches and fellowships and was also held in high esteem by some
people, yet I was under the influence of Jezebel (wicked) spirit!
God judges every operation of
Jezebel spirit, so He judged me. So I would like to use this medium to alert
every minister of the gospel, praise leaders, prayer leaders, deacons and
deaconesses, every worker in the church, women of God and particularly all
Christian women to be watchful of the life they live, especially in their
closets.
This Jezebel spirit is both wicked
and subtle, leaving its victim with the conviction that her actions are
justified by all. What a deceit!
We cannot hide from God. He watches
us and knows all our deeds both in the public and secret and He will reward us
accordingly. As queen Jezebel (of Ahab) was judged, so also God disgraces and
puts an end to every Jezebel (wicked) spirit, even now.
In the book of II Kings chapter 9,
God Himself judged the wickedness in the physical Jezebel (Ahab's wife).
“And when Jehu was come to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked
out at a window gate, she said, had Zimri peace, who slew his master?
And he lifted up his
face to the window, and said, who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to
him two or three eunuchs. And he said, throw her down, so they threw her down!
And some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he
trode her under foot.” (vs 30-33).
Every Jezebel spirit must be judged
by God no matter in whose life it resides, for God is no respecter of any
person.
It does not matter the title one
holds or the position one occupies in the church, if one has Jezebel spirit and
has refused to do away with it, then one should be ready to receive the
Judgement of God.
It is the same wonderful, merciful
and compassionate God that showed me His other side as both a terrible God and
a consuming fire when He judged this wicked spirit in me.
God also pronounced judgement upon
this same spirit when it dominated the church in Thyatira in the book of
Revelation 2:18-23.
Even though God recognized the
works, charity, service, faith and patience of this very church, yet He was
against them because they allowed the operation of Jezebel spirit in their
midst.
Beloved, will you wait to
experience the anger of God before you denounce the spirit of Jezebel and all
her operation in your life, and submit to your husband? And from my own
experience dear reader, I must say that:
“It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
I nearly lost my life, as well as
that of my innocent daughter, when the judgement of God came upon me because of
the Jezebel (wicked) spirit and her works in my life. Do not wait until God's
anger comes upon you. I only narrowly escaped by his mercy!
The Way Out
The only way out of the oppression
of this wicked spirit of Jezebel which has scattered so many homes is total
repentance, submission to the will of God and submission to your own husband.
You can pray this prayer, (or pray
as the Lord leads you); Lord Jesus, I come to You with a deep heart of
repentance. I believe I have been operating under the influence of the Jezebel
spirit. I have despised and neglected my husband, please, Father, forgive me,
cleanse me with Your blood and deliver me from this force of hell that has come
against me. Accept me again as Your
child, Oh God, have mercy on me. Fill my heart with Your Spirit once again.
Establish Your own programme for me and my family. Let Your will and not mine
be done in my home. Please reveal any presence of Jezebel spirit in my life and
purge it away and set me free. Establish Your own order in my life and in my
family, and overthrow and dismantle every Jezebel order. Reveal Yourself in me
and help me to know You more intimately, in Jesus name. Amen.
HOLY GHOST SCHOOL
Beloved, if you have genuinely said
the prayer above, by faith God has answered you and is about to deliver you
from the hold of Jezebel spirit. Also, do not stop there. Make out a particular
time everyday when you will have a quiet time with the Lord.
At this time (covenant time) which
has to be the same everyday, go into your room and ask the Lord to feed you
from His table and to speak to you. During this covenant time, you are to stay
in God's presence and read good Christian books on discipleship or listen to
Him as He teaches you. Also, study the Bible as He directs you.
Most importantly, do as He leads
you. He will speak to you, as you dwell in His presence and as you do things as
He has instructed you to do them. This is HOLY GHOST SCHOOL. (To know more
about HOLY GHOST SCHOOL and how to start eating from the table of the Lord, I
adjure you to read this book “Introducing Holy Ghost School”, by LaFAMCALL
(End-time) Ministries.
No Jezebel spirit can hide or
operate in the presence of God. So, as you dwell in God's presence through Holy
Ghost School, the Holy Spirit will expose and purge out every Jezebel spirit
and her works in your life. It was through Holy Ghost School that God drew me
nearer and then began to beautify and perfect my life.
CHAPTER 8
EXPOSITION OF THE DECEIT IN MY LIFE
At the school of submission, the
Lord exposed the falsehood in my life. He revealed the true picture of who I
was.
Unknown to many people, my life
outside was opposite of what I was at home, but nothing is hidden from God.
Let us consider some of these
hypocritical vices that were in my life and warn that anyone who has a dual
personality should repent of it and run back to God.
(i) Outward
Appearance
We should not be deceived by any
body's outward appearance. My outward appearance deceived so many people and
none knew how strong-heart I was even towards my husband.
I remained a terror at home, yet I
was admired by many people outside because of my gentle and friendly
appearance!
At fellowship, I had ministered
among other topics: “The correct use of the tongue” and “who is a virtuous
woman?” Meanwhile at home I continuously used my tongue wrongly when talking to
my husband. My attitude towards my husband at home had no virtue of
Christlikeness in it and yet I appeared qualified to others to be chosen to
minister on the above topics.
I would always challenge my husband
on how unserious he was with his spiritual life. At one time, I even tried to teach him how to
pray.
How could he have grown spiritually
when a pastor in the house had lived in disobedience to God and was not
submissive to him?
My Christian life was not a
challenge to him at all. Ironically, I was held in high esteem in both the
church I attended and in fellowships. Others regarded me as one who had really
attained great height in Christ.
Today, many women are guilty of the
same offence. They lift up holy hands, speak in tongues and even weep during
worship sessions in church and fellowship meetings. But pay a visit to their
homes and you will be shocked to see some abusing and fighting their husbands,
sometimes even immediately after church service! No matter the differences, we
should remember that a wise woman builds her home but the foolish one plucks it
down with her hands (Proverbs 14: 1).
However you as a woman want your
home to be, that it becomes. If you want your home to be as God has ordained it
to be, then it is in your hands to decide. At the same time, if you want your
home to be a place where Jezebel spirit manifests its operations, the choice is
yours.
Beloved, be wise, make a good
choice. Build your home for God. Submit to your husband.
(ii) Lies
At home, I would pretend and tell
my husband that things were hard, especially when he asked for some money from
me. Meanwhile, I lent money to outsiders who kept on praising my diligence and
goodness.
I had pleasure helping others but
refused helping my own husband who was in financial need.
I would lie about the exact amount
I earned as salary but would tell others the exact amount. I even shared the
testimony of my job promotions with friends and at fellowships, but would hide
the promotions from my husband to show him that “things are still hard.”
There was no transparency in my
relationship with my husband and he hardly knew my plans. This was the
manifestation of Jezebel spirit.
Beloved, there must be openness in
your relationship with your husband. Remember, any aspect of your life that you
keep secret from him or that you tell him lie about, may serve as an invitation
to the devourer into your life and home.
(iii) Hypocrisy
Previously, even before the Lord
took me to the school of submission, any act of kindness I showed my husband
was not done because of my love for him, but was done to attract commendation
of diligence from people.
So I bought clothes for him, not
for him to look nice but for others to appreciate my efforts and also for his
appearance not to “disgrace me”.
At a stage, I became so proud that
I even became ashamed of being in his company! I turned down every offer he
made for us to have a stroll down the street together. Meanwhile I cherished
being in other people's company other than his! That was hypocrisy and
rebellion.
If your actions to your husband are
not cordial and you desire and cherish the company of others more than his, you
are under the influence of Jezebel spirit.
Therefore ask the Lord to help you
out of every hypocritical attitude towards your own husband. He is your
husband. Respect him and take good care of him.
For Those In Holy Ghost School
Dear daughter of God; are you in
Holy Ghost School already? Then that is wonderful. I was a 'woman of God', busy
with church work and religious activities, thinking that I had known God and
that God was happy with me. It was when God brought me into Holy Ghost School
that He opened my eyes to begin to know Him by revelation. It was then I realized
that all I had been doing all along was religion! It was through Holy Ghost
School that God drew me near, and began to cleanse me and sanctify my life for
His purpose.
Now I want to encourage you to join
and continue in Holy Ghost School through having a covenant time when you go to
the Lord's presence for Him to teach and feed and direct you. Is He teaching
you through revelations already? (Galatians 1:11-12). Are you interacting with
Him personally everyday? Do you hear His voice already? Is the Lord personally
discipling you and perhaps using you to direct and disciple others? Then you
are privileged indeed.
But, beloved, I want to let you
know this, as wonderful as these experiences may be, they will all amount to
NOTHING if in the end you don't live a life of submission to your own husband!
Yes, that was what I learnt through those terrible experiences in the
hospitals. I was operating in all the things mentioned above. The Lord was
speaking to me everyday and was using me to give direction to other people. He
even gave me the revelation message I wrote in “The Journey To The Wealthy
Place”.
And so I thought that I had arrived
and that all was well. Then, suddenly, this issue of submission to my husband
came up. You have read how I tried severally to avoid it all to no avail. You
have read how my daughter and I nearly lost our lives when God's judgement
came. You have seen how I finally learnt submission “by force”, through strange
hospitalization experiences that lasted almost a year!
The Lord said that submission to
husband is the greatest duty and calling of a wife on earth. He said there is
no exception to this rule, unless one is not married. If we have got every
other thing in Holy Ghost School, but fail to get submission to husband, then
we have got nothing! Why? Because when judgement comes, we will still perish,
our Holy Ghost schooling notwithstanding. That was what killed the wife of Lot.
It nearly killed me too.
I therefore plead with you not to
make the mistake I made in thinking that I could do without submission to my
husband since I was already getting on well with the Lord through Holy Ghost
School. No! Holy Ghost School without submission to husband doesn't mean much
before God. Why? Because it still leaves us dangerously exposed to sudden
judgement and destruction, so says the Lord. My own Holy Ghost Schooling would
have been in vain if I had perished through lack of submission to my own
husband!
So, please, I encourage you to go
to the Lord on your own and ask Him to give you the grace to start submitting
to your own husband at once. If you are sincere about it, He will give you the
grace to learn it peacefully. If you allow him to come to you by judgement, for
you to learn submission by force, who knows how it may be with you! In my case,
I escaped only narrowly!
CHAPTER 9
FURTHER LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE SCHOOL
OF SUBMISSION
My life has never been the same
since I came back from the school of submission where the Lord took me to teach
me submission to my husband.
I did learn so many things from the
school, which I have shared with you already. I will like to share some more of
the lessons with you here.
My prayer is that God will open
your heart to receive them into your life and then live a life of submission to
your own husband.
God Can Do Without You
More fear gripped me when the Lord
told me that He could do without me. He could do away with me and still go
ahead to establish His will concerning my home, He said!
He told me that He could remove me
from the home and bring in another woman be who will be submissive to my
husband. As He said that, it then dawned on me that it was actually a privilege
for me to be part of my home! He opened my eyes to realize this truth.
God then referred me to the book of
Esther Chapter 1 and asked me to learn from the experience of Queen Vashti.
That account went this way: It happened that King Ahasuerus made a great feast.
And on the seventh day of the feast, he commanded his chamberlains to bring his
wife, Vashti (the queen) to show the people and the princes her beauty.
But the queen refused her husband's
invitation. She disobeyed her husband. She was eventually expelled from being
the queen any longer, as a result of her disobedience.
It was agreed by the king and his
princes that her royal estate should be given to another person who was better
than her (Esther 1: 10-20). This woman was removed, and replaced with another
woman who obeyed the king. It was through this second woman (Queen Esther) that
God established His will in that family and in that kingdom!
Also, when Saul disobeyed God and
still wanted to worship God in that state of disobedience, he was told that the
kingdom of Israel had been taken away from him and given unto another person
who was better than him (I Samuel 15). And so, God removed king Saul and
replaced him with the humble and obedient David!
It therefore implies that whatever
position we occupy in this life, either in the ministry or in secular places,
we should not allow such a position to take us away from our primary responsibility,
which is to serve and submit to our own husband. We should discharge our duties
according to the will of God and to His own glory.
We should also realize that the
privilege of being in such a position is from God.
Therefore, if we abuse the privilege
by looking down on our husbands, God may take it away from us and give it to
another person whom He approves to be submissive and better.
Beloved, if you do not want your
position as the wife of that man to be given unto another woman, keep yourself
under your husband and wait for the full manifestation of God's will for your
home. Wait, for it shall come.
God Resists The Proud
I was full of pride, thinking that
by controlling my home it meant that what a man can do, I could do even better.
Such arrogance gave no room for me to submit to my husband.
Beloved, no proud person will stand
before God. God hates pride and a proud look (Proverbs 6: 17). He gives grace
to the humble but resists the proud (James 4: 6).
Pride is a manifestation of Jezebel
spirit, so resist it in your life before it separates you from God eternally.
Wives should humble themselves
under their husbands whether they are great or small, rich or poor.
Effect of Insubordination
I learnt that a wife's
insubordination to her husband can either delay or destroy the will of God for
that home.
God has good plans for every
family, but when things are out of order in a home, the disorder may thwart the
good plans of God.
Do not destroy God's plans for you
and your family because of ego and self-will.
Beloved, if there is any sign of
insubordination in you, or you are disobedient to your husband, repent now so
that the good plans of God for your home shall not be hindered.
Remember, the word of God said in
the book of Proverbs 16: 25.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death.
Look Inwards
When I wondered why there was no
peace in my home, the Lord told me that the problem was not farfetched, the
problem was me! I was the root cause of the problem in my own home, He said!
It took the intervention of God in
my life to reveal to me that my rebellious acts to my husband had distorted the
peace of my home. I had always blamed other external forces for the problem at
home.
Ironically, I even tried to settle
quarrels between other husbands and wives, but the more efforts I made to
reconcile them, the more troubles they had in such homes. Why? Because I didn't
have peace in my own home, therefore I could not give what I did not have.
Beloved, perhaps the confusion in
your home, the hatred and the trouble you see at home, the lack of progress in
your home, all these could be traceable to your rebellious acts towards your
husband.
Therefore, let us stop blaming
other people for the trouble at home. When you humble yourself under your
husband first, it would surprise you to see in many ways that your husband is
such a good man. The Lord will help you see this.
Obedience
I had lived in disobedience to my
husband for so many years. I always did the opposite of what he said and that
was if I allowed him to give his own opinion at all.
Surprisingly the Lord told me that
I had not just been disobedient to my husband but to Him.
In other words, God regarded my
disobedience to my husband to mean disobedience to Him.
There was a particular day at home
that I was expecting a disciple. I had wanted to pray before the arrival of the
disciple. So, as I was hurrying over some domestic chores, my husband
instructed me to sweep and clean the visitors' room. Then I was caught
in-between two opinions – should I go ahead and pray first or should I obey my
husband first? Eventually I obeyed him and as I was sweeping the room, the
disciple came, so I could not pray again.
Beloved, it was amazing to know
that the Lord approved of my obedience to my husband even when it meant
forfeiting the prayer.
We should be obedient to our
husbands and respect them. Some women obey and respect other men more than
their own husband. That is Jezebel wicked order! It leads to death.
It is evil for any woman to despise
her own husband and accord respect to other men. This is hypocritical and we
must repent of that and obey our own husbands. After all, what offence did
Lot's wife really commit? She disobeyed her husband and she paid dearly for it.
Transparency
As I mentioned earlier, I had kept
so many things about my life secret from my husband. I was involved in some
business transactions without his knowledge.
It was a hard nut for me to crack
the day the Lord told me to declare all my assets to my husband. He also asked
me to confess every of my secret sins to him.
Then came the day of declaration. I
told my husband how much I earned as salary, my savings account balance, the
different shares I bought and other investments I had made.
Also I confessed to him of my
former plans to change our children's surname to my maiden name and to travel
abroad with them without his consent!
But now, I am free from the yoke of
Jezebel spirit. There is peace in my heart. I have no extra plans outside the
one my husband and I agree on. Even before I buy anything, I discuss with him
first and the purchase is only made at his approval. After the purchase, I give
him the change. Praise God! I am happy. I am now saved. I now have peace. I am
grateful to God for what He has done for me.
Beloved, be open to your husband.
Hide nothing from him for the two of you are one. You may only need the wisdom
of God to know what time to tell him which thing. The secret thing in our lives
will be exposed on the last day, as we stand before the judgement seat of
Christ. So, which one is better – to do it now and be saved or to do it then
and yet be destroyed?
Service to My Husband
Initially I would serve my husband
food carelessly and attend to him non-challantly.
One day the Lord called my attention
to it with these words “You always wash your dishes very well to serve
visitors, why will you not do the same or even more to your husband?”
He rebuked me for taking time to do
things right in serving visitors, but being careless and non-challant in
serving my husband. I did not even know that my husband should have my special
attention in what he eats and how the food is presented. My attitude was to
make everything fine for visitors, while my husband “manages” whatever is
presented to him. This was part of my hypocrisy and rebellion. The Lord has
corrected all that, and my husband now eats like a king, as I now give him
meticulous service with all my heart and love.
All these I learnt from the school
of submission. This is God's life in my marriage and I urge you to attend to
your husband with respect. As you do so, the Lord will beautify your home too.
Appreciation
To say 'thank you' to my husband
used to be extremely difficult for me because initially I felt he had not done
much for me to deserve my appreciation.
I would call other people by names
like “beloved”, “darling” and say “I love you” to them but never used any of
such friendly words for my husband.
Then one day I said “I love you” to
someone else, the Lord cut in and said, “You have always called others
'darling' and said 'I love you' to them, but have you said that to your
husband? Your beauty must begin from within before extending to without.”
So, I made up my mind to do as the
Lord remained me. So, a day came that I hugged my husband, to his surprise, and
said “I love you.”
Now when I used such words for
others, there is peace and joy in my heart knowing that I equally say that to
my husband.
Beloved, do you use friendly words
for others that you have not spoken to your own husband? That is hypocrisy.
The grace of God is sufficient for
you to submit to your husband even in this way too. Be determined to do it and
you will be amazed that it is possible with God.
CHAPTER 10
WHOSE VOICE DO YOU HEAR?
Beloved, there are many voices in
the world. And this leads to the question; whose voice do you hear and obey?
Who is leading you? Whose voice do
you hear that makes you to challenge your husband? That makes you to snub him
and call him names in the closet? That makes you to serve him food grudgingly?
Who leads you and whose voice do you obey when you handle things that belong to
him with disdain? Who leads you when you slight him, especially in the presence
of your relations?
Who directs your actions generally
towards your own husband?
Do you take decisions alone at
home? Do you intentionally avoid his company and pretend that you only want to
avoid troubles?
Do you pray together with your
husband or you don't involve him in prayers because you have concluded that he
is not spiritual?
Have you described your husband
with words like, 'he is just too lazy', ‘he is too cold for comfort', 'very
extravagant', 'not expressive', 'not friendly', 'too demanding'?
If any of the questions above
reveals your attitude to your husband, then you have listened to and have
equally obeyed the voice of the spirit of Jezebel! You must have been taking
instructions from that wicked spirit without knowing it.
God is calling us to order now, so
let us repent and escape the imminent judgement of God on wickedness.
When I was a victim of Jezebel
spirit, I treated my husband with great contempt. I brought him so low before
my relations that they had little or no regard for him.
Then I obeyed the voice of Jezebel
which lured me into stubbornness and disobedience.
The voice of self also rose within
me with questions like, “what have I gained in this marriage?” “Is it worth
remaining in?”
Some of my relations (the voice of
relations) even suggested that I should divorce my husband and marry a better
person. Through the wrong voices I listened to, I did not only wish to divorce
him, but to be alone with our children. I had plans to elope with our children
to overseas, as mentioned earlier, but all my plans failed woefully. God
stopped them!
When I opened my heart to other
voices other than the voice of God, and obeyed them, my heart became sick. I
had excruciating pain on my chest. Eventually the Lord told me that my heart
was wrong and that I was in error because I had refused His command to submit
to my husband.
In addition, I resorted to other
means to find 'false peace', for there is no real peace outside Christ. I lived
a confused life.
Therefore beloved, any voice that
suggests to you to usurp authority over your husband and control him is a wrong
voice from the wicked spirit of Jezebel. We should not regard it. We must be
careful also not to allow the voice of self and the voice of friends and
relations to lead us into rebellion.
The truth is that if we want to
experience the peace of God both in our homes and lives, we should desire the
voice of God for that was the voice that delivered me from total destruction. “My sheep listen to My voice…”, Jesus
has said (John 10: 27).
The Voice of God
The voice of God is the voice of
life and direction. It is void of confusion. The voice of God reminds us to
obey God in all areas of our lives and it draws us closer to God. The voice of
the Lord kept me in check throughout our stay in the hospital and even after.
It is a still small voice that leads to peace and joy as we obey it.
The voice of God insisted on my
submission to my husband despite my rebellion. And as I obeyed that voice,
peace, joy and progress returned to my life and family!
It is the voice of correction. It
keeps saying words like, “you missed it here”, “You should have done it this
way.”
Sometimes when I speak wrongly to
my husband, God calls me to order with words like “you have failed in this
area”, “apologize to your husband”. Then I apologize for the error and at once
peace and joy return to me and to the entire family.
There was a day I left home for
somewhere. On my way out, I greeted one man, “good morning sir”. Immediately
the Lord asked me, “Did you greet your husband this morning? Did you add 'sir'
to him?”
The Lord told me that it was very
hypocritical of me to address another man (who is probably younger than my
husband) with 'sir', without first addressing my husband that way.
I got the message. Even though I
was in a hurry, I was made to turn back from there and made for home. When I got
home, I greeted my husband; “good morning sir,” to his utter amazement! Since
then, our home has entered a realm of peace and joy we had never known before.
All these happened because I listened to and obeyed the right voice, which is
the voice of God.
There was another incident that
happened where the voice of God helped me to remain in submission to my
husband.
I came home, tired, one evening and
my husband asked me a question, but I did not answer him. When he asked me
again, I told him that I was tired. Just then my sister asked me a question and
I answered her very well.
Then the Lord's voice said to me,
“You said that you were tired to answer your husband, but you answer your
sister! Was that good?” At once I got the message and then apologized to my
husband for my rudeness.
Beloved, we may make mistakes in
the process of pursuing or following the voice of God, but it is very risky to
live a life void of God's direction (leading). “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow Me,” Jesus has said (John
10: 27). We cannot follow Him if we don't hear His voice. As we keep following
Him, even when we make mistakes, He corrects us.
Therefore, we should listen to the
voice of God for He is the one who instructs us best on how to live a life of
submission to our husbands.
How To Hear The Voice of God
Anyone who wants to hear the voice
of God on the issue of submission to husbands must first be close enough to
God, to be able to hear Him clearly.
We must humble ourselves, forfeit
pride and ego and desire to listen, hear and do only what the Lord wants us to
do. If we are willing to obey Him, He will help us know His mind. Therefore
willingness of the heart is very important here.
While I was in the school of
submission the Lord spoke to me through these means: He spoke to me through the
scripture (the word of God), dreams, vision and revelations as well as through
His voice, especially the still, small, inward voice that comes through the
heart.
Even now, He still speaks to His
children through all these ways.
If you really want to start hearing
God through these ways, then you must begin to spend time alone in His
presence. Many Christians are too busy with activities that they don't have
time to sit down in God's presence for Him to teach and direct them. It is as we
separate to His presence that He begins to teach us His voice. So, start
spending quality time in His presence everyday, studying, listening, mediating
and receiving directions from Him.
As this happens, He will soon help
you to align your will with His, as He creates in you the desire to follow and
obey His will. When we are willing to do God's will then learning the lessons
of submission to husband becomes easier. The ultimate purpose of hearing God's
voice is that we may know and obey His will. Now, are you ready for that?
CHAPTER 11
THE WILL OF GOD
God has good plans for every of His
children. He promised to give us His Kingdom. And what more, He sent Jesus
Christ to die to take away our sins. And now, He has given us the Holy Spirit
to teach us the path of God, which is His will. God's will for us also includes
our prosperity, both in our spiritual and physical lives.
In the book of Genesis chapter 2
and 3, God created Adam and there was a good relationship between them. God
spoke to Adam and he obeyed him.
The relationship continued until
there was Eve his wife, whose disobedience led to their separation from God.
They lost the place of fellowship with their God because of the attitude of
Eve.
As women, we should always desire
and seek the will of God for our homes. We should not hold the blessing of our
family to ransom because of our disobedience, carelessness and rebellion.
When a woman fights the ordained
plans of God by assuming the position of the husband, she has indirectly locked
out the will of God for her home. It also means that every other good plans of
God will be withheld because there is disorder in that home.
Therefore, for us to experience the
will of God in our marriages, in the life of our husbands, children and our
loved ones, we must obey God's own arrangement for homes. We must take our
positions under our husbands. We must obey them and take instructions from
them. That is the will of God for our homes.
When we obey this divine order of
God, then God will reveal His own plans for our family. Then you will be amazed
how things will change for better in your home too.
A.W. Tozer in his book, “Tragedy in
the church” said; “To miss out in any degree on all that God provides for us is
tragedy – pure and simple.”
Can you imagine what would have
happened to Noah's wife if she had refused to enter the ark with her husband!
The will of God is revealed in
obedience. When we obey God, He reveals and works out His will for us and our
families.
Do You Know God's Will For You?
It is necessary to ask at this
point in time if we know why God created us? Why He has blessed us with the
husbands whom we have neglected for a long time now?
We should also ask ourselves if we
have the desire to actually know the will of God for us.
Do we really know His will and do
we want to know? Or are we still covered with the veil of insubordination?
Have we found out from the Lord
what He wants to teach us even with that husband we regard as a “wicked man”?
Are we proud? Are we rebellious to
our husbands? If there is still pride and rebellion in our lives we may be
delaying the total manifestation of God's will for us and our family.
Your husband is the appropriate man
that God has chosen for you. Even when there are lapses in him, you should
submit first to him and then allow God to beautify the life of your husband.
There is a reason why God has
allowed that union of you and your husband. There is also a reason why God has
allowed those lapses to remain in your husband until your submission to him is
tested and confirmed.
He is ready and waiting for your
return to Him. Let's return to God for He is the only One that will perfect all
that concern us (Psalm 138: 8). We cannot win the love of our husband through
nagging and rebellion. That is not the will of God. The easiest means to gain
entrance into our husband's heart is through submission and obedience to them.
God did not reveal to me His plans
for me and my family until I submitted totally to my husband. It was when the
lesson of submission got into me, that the Lord told me why He made me, and His
will for my family.
Then He answered so many questions
which had bothered me and had kept me miserable for several years!
Dear child of God, for us to know
and be in the will of God for us and our families, we must submit to our own
husbands.
Conclusion
Beloved, at this stage of reading
it is now clear to us to whom we belong. By now, there should not be any doubt
or confusion as to whose will we should follow.
God's will for our home starts with
our submission to our husbands! This is the rule for every wife, irrespective
of our positions in the church or in the society.
Remember, our submission to our
husbands must be total; both in words, body and finance.
Now, can we take a second look at
our homes? What is happening in our homes, is it the will of God for us?
Are our homes void of the peace of
God? Then let us look inwards. Let us stop blaming anybody for the troubles at
our homes, and search our own heart.
What of our attitudes to our
husbands? Do our attitudes promote peace at home? Or has our rebellion kept us out
of the will of God for so long?
Beloved, it is not late for us to
repent now. Let us join TOZER to confess that we want to be in such a spiritual
condition that we may share in God's blessings as they come, no matter what the
cost may be.
Dear reader, if the cost includes
you asking your husband for forgiveness for several years of insubordination,
then do it right away.
Also be ready to follow and obey
the Lord as He teaches you the lesson of submission.
Enrol into Holy Ghost School today
and start eating from the table of the Lord. When you start doing this, the
Lord Himself will give you the grace to learn the lesson of submission more
quickly.Then He will make your home beautiful. Let us hear what the Spirit of
God is saying to us and return to our God for He will accept us and beautify
our lives.
Beloved, the conclusion of the
whole matter therefore is this;
“Fear
God, and keep His commandments: For this is the whole duty of man”
(Ecclesiastes 12: 13).
God bless you.
