by Susan Sampson
So…is there a two-headed monster living in your home? There used to be one in my home and has only been slayed by the grace of God. If you read my journal you would know. Many times I had to confess to the Lord Psalm 73:22, “I was senseless and ignorant, I was a brute beast before you.” (NIV) James 3:16 continues to convict me. “For where you have envy and SELFish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (NIV)
The call to submit is a call to follow in the footsteps of our Savior, our Beloved. He climbed Mount Submission first. It was on Mount Calvary that He bled to death to set us free. Jesus is our Substitute. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He paid the price. His death atoned for all of our sin. His blood paid our ransom. His blood has washed us clean. His sacrifice paid our debt. We are free. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
The more we comprehend the mercy we have been given in Christ, the more we understand the gospel and believe it by faith, the more our hearts WILL fill with the love of Jesus and we will want to submit to His will and to our husbands. Performance will no longer be my motive. LOVE will become the motive. The NIV translation of Romans 12:1 is so helpful to me. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” When we look at it, when we see, when we understand, when we receive the mercy and grace of God, we are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, to humbly submit from within with a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
The name of our study is Falling in Love Again with Your Husband. This is our prayer. The way is Christ. The way is submission. The way is death to self. The way is the gospel. It’s not about trying harder. It’s not about getting it right. Our flesh can’t get it right. There is nothing we can do. There is no good in us. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18a). Praise be to God for His gift of the Holy Spirit, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Christ alone for the glory of God alone.
Philippians 2 must be one of the essential tools we have with us at all times in this journey. Jesus, “who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). Jesus did nothing on His own. He did not take matters into his own hands. He did not try to figure things out or fix things or get things under control. He humbly submitted to His Father’s will. He is our example. He is our Beloved and we are His.
God is Sovereign. He alone is in control. As much as I continue to try to control my circumstances, I am believing a lie. I am powerless apart from Christ. Peace will not come from my holding things together, but just the opposite. I must let go and surrender all. I must continue daily to put the old girl to death. It is a daily battle. I must place all my hope and trust in Jesus. He is our Living Hope. Christ in me, the hope of glory. He is our Victory.
Father God help us to humble ourselves and trust in you as your daughters. Help us submit to our husbands with a gentle and quiet spirit that can rest in your love and protection. As we submit to our husbands as unto the Lord, we will come into the Ark of Christ and will be safe and secure. Deliver us from all fear by your perfect love. Work through us as your chosen vessels to win our husbands, wake up our husbands and woo them closer to you! Please bring 1 Peter 3 to life in our hearts and may you receive all the glory.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc. 3:11a).
In Jesus’ name and for His sake.