Family Under Attack!! (part 2)

As the prophet Isaiah says the gospel truly is good news but do we understand all that has been given to us in the New Covenant? As someone who has walked with the Lord for 21 years, I can only confess that I have been ignorant. In my ingnorance I turned to my own failed resources (an orphan heart/flesh) but I am now seeing His Amazing grace in new ways (not truly new but simply being revealed). In the last blog we saw the way of Adam but also we see the way of Eve to lead her husband towards death by offering him the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I had to wonder before the Lord if she might have said something to Adam to encourage him to eat of the tree. I don't know but Satan used Eve as an instrument to bring death to Adam. As both were deceived through the Lie their eyes were open to see that utter lack without the life of God sustaining them. The results of the Fall are recorded in Genesis 3, God states that their is a curse on the serpent, a curse over childrearing/birth that Eve and decendents would have great pain, that Eve's desire will be for her husband and he will rule over her, and a curse on the ground that Adam would toil over it. As I asked the Holy Spirit about this I sensed that God did not bring the curse but simply carried out His Word (if you eat of the tree you will die). As I looked in Genesis 3:17 it was through Adam listening to Eve's voice that he was deceived. The Lord revealed to me that it was out of the loving heart of God that the ways Adam and Eve would seek life apart from Him were under a curse. For many men who turn to success in their career or profession to give them a sense of identity, worth, and significance they are left with a sense of emptiness. For women that seek relationships for their value, worth, love, and identity they often find great pain and disappointment. Even childrearing/childbirth is under a curse (in the Old Covenant) as well as romantic relationships because her desire will be for her husband and he will rule or reign over her. I have often seen women who are desperately holding onto their husbands trying to make him be the father they never had only to be deeply disappointed and hurt. This disappointment and hurt left unchecked turns into bitterness, unforgiveness, and even eventual dispair. I also see many mothers who are in great pain as they have held onto their children, trying to have them come out like they hoped. Fastforward to Ephesians 5 and the New Covenant of grace to see God's redemptive plan for families. Through the finished work of Christ He is placed as the Head and under him husbands are lifted up into head of the wife. As I saw this through the grace of God I realized that all men have followed Adam's lead of being passive and abdicating their original given authority with damaging results to their families. In otherwords we men don't deserve (haven't earned) being head of the wife, this is totally an act of God's redemptive grace. It was through Adam that Satan got into the Garden and it is through the last Adam Christ that through our given authority "in Christ" we will crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20). Husbands have the opporunity through Christ's work on the cross and His life in them to lead their families in freedom and victory. Many husbands, relying on their fleshly power, have lead their family into defeat, frustration, and loss. Wives are to be subject or submissive to their husbands (Ephesians 5) but this really is a redemptive role of building her husband up. Remember that it was through Eve that Satan deceived Adam, now wives have a crucial role through the finished work of Christ in building up their husband and restoring what was lost in the Garden. Thus a wife's words over her husband have power to bring blessing and restoration through the New Covenant (guided by the Holy Spirit) or they have the power to tear down (Power of death and life is in the tongue). I have seen many a frustrated wife who in an attempt to motivate their husbands to take up their authority tear down their husbands through harh and critical words. This has the opposite affect intended and leads to more frustration and failure. I pray that the Holy Spirit would show you the greatness of what has been done in Christ and lead you into the freedom purchased for you.

In His Grace,
Bret