“Then why do you treat him any differently now?
Treat him as if he were a Christian.”
OUCH! I wonder how many of us have ever had this epiphany!?! Men need respect … while women need love. We women know that we need love. It makes us feel secure in our relationship. But have we really truly thought of what respect means to our husband? As Dineen said, “some even equate respect with love.”
Having respect for our husband means treating him with the utmost kindness. Treat him as you want to be treated. Do you treat your husband with the utmost kindness; or the way you want to be treated? Do you let your husband take the lead in the household? Do you belittle your husband in front of others? Do you laugh at him in front of others? Do you add to the stress that he already has? Do you nag him?
God calls us to respect our husbands. He doesn’t tell us to respect our husband only IF he does this or that; only if he is a good father; only if he is a good provider; only if he shows you love, and so on. He simply tells us to respect him….period!
Respecting your husband simply put, means that you have chosen to obey God. When you obey God by respecting your husband, you are showing honor to God! God never called you to nag your husband. In fact, in Proverbs 21:9 tells us that it’s better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife. Proverbs 21:19 tells us that it’s better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.
From there, we move into the section of the book that talks about our needs. We have such a way of putting such high demands on our spouse to meet our needs that it’s impossible for him to meet them all! Then we get frustrated, disappointed, or angry, that he isn’t able to meet these needs. First off, your spouse was never made to meet your every need! Only God can do that! Once you figure this out, it takes the pressure off of you both! You are no longer disappointed in him for not meeting your needs; and he is no longer working so hard trying to figure out how to please you!! Win-Win Situation for you both! Praise God!
The one thing that really stood out to me in this chapter though, is the section that talked about his salvation and praying for your husband. I know how important his salvation is to you. But I want to ask you something. I want you to really think about this, too.
“Would you rather your husband have a ‘forced’ relationship with God because you forced him into this with your nagging? Or would you rather he have the kind of relationship that allows him to love the Lord with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength?”
I really want you to think about this question today. The rest of this chapter goes into a lot more things for us to think about, and I don’t want to take away from our awesome ladies who will be blogging the rest of the week. So with that, I’m going to end my blog here today. I hope I have given you some food for thought today.
_______________________
Here is Your Reading Assignment this Week:
Oct 22 –
Know the Essentials / Our Deepest Needs – Beverly
Oct 23 –
It’s Not About Us – Jennifer
Oct 24 –
To Know & Be Known – Donna
Oct 25 –
God Is the Wild Hope Maker – Sarah
Oct 26 –
Glue to Hope, Joy, & Peace / Discovery / Prayer – Martha
Don’t Forget! Saturdays with Shandy!
Shandy is taking us through a 6-week journey to prepare our homes for the Holidays!
______________________
Let’s Pray:
Father, thank You so much Lord for loving us the way You do. Thank You Lord for the spouse you have given each of us. Lord, allow us to see him through Your eyes. Allow our hearts to love him the way You do. Put a guard over our tongue this week Lord, and help us to watch the words that come out of our mouth. Lord, help us to truly be the kind of wife that You designed us to be for the spouse You have given us. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!
_________________
God bless you,
.
.
.
________________
For the “Winning Him Without Words” Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the “sign-up here” button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!
Please email Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com if you have any questions, or if you have a private comment that you would like to forward to one of our bloggers in regards to their post that day.
I just got home from church and got right on the computer to see what you had to say today. Oh boy are you right on target. We are having a delivery on Tuesday. I have been letting my husband make all the arrangements for preperation , set up , and delivery. To day my controling self emerged and i was going to tell him how I would do it. But I read this first. THANK YOU.! God and my husband do not need me on this . My stress level is down and i am just going to enjoy the day knitting and singing this afternoon. God is so good and this group is a true gift from God.
Thanks Beth! Sometimes we put things out there, and we 2nd guess ourselves and wonder if what we wrote will help anyone. When all along, we should just trust God that He gave us the words to share, and not worry about it!! 🙂 I'm glad it spoke to you!! Have fun with that knitting!!
You are right on, Christie. A hard lesson I had to learn, and still in the process of learning. You will see wha I mean Friday on my post.