Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

I have spoken in the past about being raised by a women’s liberation mom and our anthem being Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” song. So, you can imagine my reaction the first time that I heard a sermon preaching that wives should submit to their husbands. My husband jokes and says that he still has scars in his thigh from my fingernails. I assure you that I did not leave scars, but that may just have been because it was winter and his pants were a little thicker, lol. My thought was “I am a strong, capable, relatively bright woman, why on earth would I submit to a man, even if he was my husband?”

Boy did God have His work cut out for Him where I was concerned. ; D

But then I met Jesus. God’s forgiveness was so incredible to me that I wanted to do whatever His word said that I should, even submission to my husband. But it’s not like I walked up to the alter, accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and went back to the pew saying “how can I serve you my husband?”. It has been a long, arduous and sometimes painful process. For both of us.

To really understand what submission to my husband, or anyone else for that matter, looked like I had to understand biblical submission. Before we can submit to someone we have to recognize that they have a place of authority. Take Jonah for instance. He recognized that he had to submit to God and that there was no outrunning Him. Jonah had been a man of God and even a prophet of God. God asked him to go to Nineveh and warn them of His judgement. As we know, Jonah did not want to go and through varying circumstances finally submits and goes to Nineveh and warns the people of God’s pending judgement. His submission resulted in the repentance and belief of Nineveh (“Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.” Jonah 3:5) and God forgave them and did not bring calamity on the city of 120,000 (“When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” Jonah 3:10.)

There are many examples of submission in the scriptures, but the greatest picture of submission is our Savior Jesus Christ. As He is praying, in the Garden of Gethsemane, awaiting Judas and the crowd of armed men to come get Him and to begin his painful journey to the cross, He asks the Father if there is a way to deviate from this plan, (“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:49, but as soon as the question is posed, he immediately takes a posture of submission.

Jesus submission to the Father resulted in our forgiveness and ability to dwell with Him in Heaven for all of eternity. He trusted God’s plan with all of His heart and with His very life. How dare I then question it?

In Romans 13:1 God tells us that we should submit to those in authority over us (“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”) because He has given them that authority.

In 1 Corinthians 11:3 we see the God given chain of authority… (“But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Similarly in Ephesians 5:22 – 25 God says “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. If my husband is trying (he will never obtain perfection this side of heaven) to love me the way that Jesus loves the Church, why would I not want to submit to him.

You don’t have to like submission or the idea of submitting to your husband. For that matter you may not be happy about submitting to those in authority over you. And, submission may be an ugly word to you. That is between you and God.

I will tell you that I trust God to lead my husband, because He blesses my obedience when I submit, He promised to protect me, He promised to provide for me and because He promised to lead my husband. I also trust Him to lead my bosses and those in authority over me. Now, will they all do God’s will? No, we have free will and sometimes my bosses and my husband have not done things that have made it easy to submit. But, God protects and watches over me and my continued obedience is a testimony to Him.

If I am going to call myself a follower of Christ, then I am going to have to submit not just to Jesus Himself, but to all those He has placed in authority over me. And, I will try (knowing that I too can not obtain perfection, this side of heaven) because the day that I submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, submission became An Ugly Word That Turned Beautiful. Allowing Him to be Lord of My Life was the greatest act of submission I would ever do and His forgiveness and Lordship over my life are the greatest gift I will ever receive.

I pray that today you would be submissive to those in authority over you, to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over your life. And, I pray that you recognize fully that submitting to Jesus as Lord of your life, instead of enslaving you, released you from the bondage of the sin that held you captive and because of that realization I pray that you would tell those around you about the Savior who freed you.

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and think that you are free and submit to no one. Understand that you are submitting to the enemy (satan) who desires your destruction. By submitting to Jesus you will be forgiven and freed from the penalty and bondage of sin. There is no greater freedom or gift. I pray that you would desire this freedom and would go to our Life Preserver page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Once you do, please reach out to me at admin@forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be praying for you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Luv ya!