HUSBANDS

The above article was recently sent out to all our male ministry partners.

I hope it’s a blessing to you all.



Hi Guys

Hope you are all well.

For some time I have been involved as a regular contributor on a great Christian forum. Most of the people on this forum have experienced a bumpy road as they made their way out of the Institutional Church, yet most couldn’t get out fast enough.

One of the regular posts of this forum is called ‘My Journey” where people write and share their stories of how the Holy Spirit has led them out.

When thinking about how to write my story, which I am presently working on, I became aware that actually my story is not mine at all, it’s ours, Chris and I together. So what is our story, what has it done in us and how has our story positively affected others when they view our lives. In the end, unless we are different, we have NO message for anyone.

I want to start by saying that without the commitment, strength and persistence of my wife, this letter would not be on your computer screen. As many of you know I had several years of darkness; without Chris’s persistent prayer and encouragement I could well be back in that dark hole.

Once we are married we become one flesh and are united, bound together in the eyes of our Father. Yet many of the men I know who clearly have a calling on their lives, appear to carry on as if they were either single, or have mistakenly concluded that the calling is on them and not them together as a couple. (BIG MISTAKE). God’s word tells us that God has given me my wife as a partner, helper or better put, a Co-worker.

I thank God for my wife - she is the most wonderful person I have ever known. Knowing that as I do, why would I want to do anything that dozen’t include her; to do so would deny the very plan that God has for my life, a life lived and worked out with another person.

For us to walk and function as God has planned, we will need to bring our wives WITH us on this incredible journey.

Christian leadership starts with getting our own house in order:

1. Him first
2. Then our wives
3. Then our families
4. Then our ministries

Get these principles out of order and both of us will suffer.

Charging ahead and empowering others whilst our wives are not with us it not God’s best. As most of us men know, the majority of our worth can easily come from what we do rather than who we are, yet God has called us to be different and not be conformed to this world, (Rom 12:1.2) regarding our life-styles and where we get our affirmation from. Many of us need to take stock of our current situation and ask ourselves some tough questions. Remember our time here on earth is a training time, where God seeks to empower us, that we can rule and reign with Him for eternity.

If this short exhortation is ringing bells with you, then please ask yourself the following:

1. How often do my wife and I pray together, regarding what God has called us to be and do?
2. Do I see us as being called as one flesh?
3. Do we have a corporate vision?
4. How many times do we reflect on our vision and map how far along the road we are?
5. Are we reading the same books?
6. How many of us really recognize that our wives are wanting us to lead them?
7. How often do I as a man charge ahead? (That’s NOT leadership, its abandonment)

For a woman, much of her worth will come from the husband that God has connected her with. A husband that will love, Honor, cherish, serve and empower her. It’s hardly surprising that so many Christian women are still damaged and hurting, when husbands (whom God has chosen to bring them healing and empowerment) are off doing ministry and playing with their toys.

Adam’s sin was that he failed to bring God’s order into the garden and through the abdication of his spiritual responsibility opened his wife up to deception. It was the women who ate the fruit first but it was Adam who was held responsible.

I believe the Lord would ask us men to take stock of our situation and ask ourselves, how does the story of our past affect our future together and what do we need to do, to build up the broken down walls.

It time for us men to step up to the plate, and be all that God has called us to be in our marriages.

Blessings


Terry Johns
PS. Seeking to be the worlds best husband, friend, partner and lover to my wife