At a Crossroads? Get Out of the Rut and Reach Higher - Part 3

Submission was never intended to be a nasty word, but it's not uncommon for the word to bring up strong opposition in both men and women. Ephesians 5:21 instructs Christians to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Healthy parenting teaches children to be submissive to rules and authority, for failure to do so could result in long-lasting sorrow for both parent and child.

Submission is required for taking advantage of opportunities that come your way. Opposition to submission can become an obstruction to success. Submission reflects obedience, which is another word that’s hard to swallow and digest. Jeremiah 26:13 implores us to "stop sinning and obey the Lord."

Submission is a good, godly word, but it can be abused. It's important to remember that submission is what you do voluntarily, for being forced to submit isn’t submission at all. Submission to God's laws, his love, and his care for you requires your freedom to choose. Christ Jesus would not have it any other way, but doing so guarantees his blessings. 

Created for Relationship - Part 3

An issue all marriages encounter is who is to be submissive to whom and to what degree. Equality includes equal power, different but equal roles, as well as opportunities to express the talents and skills each person brings to the relationship. Ephesians 5:21 offers this advice, "Submit one to another out of reverence for Christ."

What does the word accountability mean to you? Everyone has to answer to someone. Even gang members have this responsibility. Those who refuse face severe consequences. Most human beings comply with being accountable where assurance of personal safety exists. Submissiveness means more than yielding to the desires of another person.

In the healthiest sense, submissiveness means to be accountable to another person. The apostle Paul indicates that relationships should reflect our relationship with Christ Jesus. We are accountable to God for our behavior and our thoughts. God encourages us to consistently submit and be accountable to his kindness, love, and power.  

Choosing Persons or Power: It's Up to You - Part 2

Over time a couple may lose the closeness that initially bonded them together. The cares of life may cause a couple to lose interest and emotionally drift apart, causing a crisis to evolve in the marriage. The first thing a husband or wife may try to do is to restore sexual intimacy, only to witness a rise in anger and more distance.

Sex is frequently at the center of power struggles when it's used as a tool for exerting control or punishment. When sex is expressed as God intended, a couple feels deeply connected at the core of their being. Otherwise, sex is just sex. Where there is indisputable unity, the bond that holds a couple together is consistently strengthened.

Choosing to permit God's love to be anchored in the core of your being transforms power struggles into mutual submissiveness accompanied by a sincere motive to please each other. God's business is transforming attitudes and hearts so unity and bonding can be strengthened. Would you permit God to make this transformation in you?

The Power of Patience: Taming the Temper - Part 3

The family is the most prized possession of a nation, for it provides a stabilizing force that's sustained by love, trust, and respect. Family members create a system of rules and boundaries for the distribution power and authority. Fair and healthy distribution of power provides contentment to the family unit. Successful management of power minimizes conflict.

Striving for power is a contributing factor to a family's demise. Power struggles come in many forms and often are observed at family gatherings. Jacob and Esau represent a classic struggle between siblings striving for power. Jacob outwits Esau for his birthright. Then Jacob and his mother conspire against Esau for their father's blessing.

Couples struggle for power by using money, sex, and children. Finding the appropriate balance of power, as intended by God, keeps a family healthy and together. God intended for family members to be subject to one another out of respect, love, and trust. Choosing God's way is the pathway to peace, joy, and blessings.

Intimacy: The Power of Trust - Part 3

Martin Luther, the Catholic monk who pioneered the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, told a group of young men whom he was mentoring not to consider marriage until they were at least thirty years of age. He believed it took this long for most men to mature enough to be for their wife and children something other than just the provider of their basic needs.

The more secure and settled a person's identity, the less likely power struggles will dominate a marriage relationship. Power struggles exist where one or both of the marriage partners feel diminished emotionally, intellectually, or physically. Where power struggles are present, the less intimacy, honesty, and closeness there will be in a marriage.

Power struggles are about striving for dominance over another person. Choosing to let go of control is choosing to trust, rather than to dominate. God's plan is for us to trust him rather than him forcing us to conform to his ways. Making choices for positive change means letting go of power struggles and becoming submissive to God and each other.