Greetings,
Today I am in Bellingham. I am looking forward to meeting with some leaders this morning and discussing Generational Leadership. We had a great weekend at Alife. Lots of prophetic activation in the house. God’s presence and God’s family was a blessing.
Paul wrote words describing a marriage of a husband and a wife, a man and a woman, in the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Paul was specifically describing the relationship of Jesus and the church, but his words can also be used to understand the true relational function of a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage. Paul said that the wife is to submit to her husband as unto the Lord, she is to submit to him as the church does to Christ, and she is to submit to him in everything.
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
In the futile environment of the fall of man, if the man is a bad man, if the man is a taker, these instructions can be a disaster for the woman. If the husband is a taker in his beliefs, actions, imaginations, and influence her submission to him is going to be a license for bondage and slavery. These words are not written to the husband, they are written to the wife. They are the criteria for receiving the life that a husband should be giving, as Jesus gives life, breath, and all things as God in the expression of the husband of the wife, the church. I believe the church has excelled in using these words given to the wife as means of creating marriages that are expressions of bondage to what should be an expressive home of life. Every marriage that has failed, has failed because at least one of the partners was a taker or both partners in the relationship were takers. If you are a taker, you cannot live in a relationship that is dependent upon you giving life to the other.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
In Ephesians chapter 5, there are also three things for the husband. He is to love his wife exactly as Jesus did when He died on the cross. If his wife is hating him and shouting crucify him, the husband is supposed to be able to give his live unreservedly for her sake. In reality she should not be shouting crucify him. She is supposed to be be receiving what the husband gives. He is supposed to give life to someone who doesn’t think like him. It would be easier if she just liked football. But she doesn’t think like him. He is supposed to give his life for in in all things and she is supposed submits to him, because he is giving her life. It is difficult for a wife to submit to her husband if he is not giving her life. He is supposed to sanctify and wash her with the water of the word. This is not speaking Scriptures to her or over her in some way. It is sanctifying her with life-giving expressions – life-giving words. It is the action of watering her, encouraging her with life to be an expression of life. She is not his daughter. He is not her teacher. They are partners. He believes in her. He gives life to her to help her become life, the life that she is meant to be in every way. The third thing God says to the man is that he might present her to himself as a church without any spot, blemish, or wrinkle. A church is a word for wife – a governing body joined to him as a husband in every way. The word present means to bring alongside of himself as a church, a governing body, a decision maker with him and on his behalf in all things. He doesn’t see her spots, blemishes, or wrinkles. He sees that she is one with him and he brings her alongside of himself in everything.
This is the foundation of true marriage. It is the foundation for being a source of life to one another in all things. It is the foundation for becoming a family with the fruit of life-giving children to affect the world in a life-giving way. We do not have a picture-perfect example of this in this world, but some are finding increasing measures of this truth as it is seen from heaven’s view and described by Paul in Ephesians, chapter 5. This is the way it is to be in the church with Jesus and His body. We must grow in these realities and we must shine in the night as light of hope to those who have come and are coming from a world of dysfunction and death. We cannot pattern our marriages and families after the ways of the world. We must become testimonies of a heavenly way that offers hope to a world bound to strongholds of death.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
We need to purchase many tickets for the upcoming itinerary. I will be headed to Angola, Africa in April. We still need to purchase tickets. Please donate to House of Bread Ministry and help us reach the nations and generations with the word and impartation of New Covenant Life and Grace. Donations are payable to House of Bread Ministry. You can donate at the link on this page or mail your contribution to:
House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Thank You So Much – Ted J. Hanson
