ONE TEAM
APRIL 2013
Lisa Maki
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:7-9).
The man and the woman become “one” in marriage, no longer two but one. It is God who joins them together as “one” and therefore no man shall dare separate it.
The reason why God puts the two and make them one is so that there will be more strength and power. This is actually the concept of synergy as defined by The Free Dictionary: the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
The man and the woman become “one” in marriage, no longer two but one. It is God who joins them together as “one” and therefore no man shall dare separate it.
The reason why God puts the two and make them one is so that there will be more strength and power. This is actually the concept of synergy as defined by The Free Dictionary: the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 says: Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
This shows that the power of the man and his wife joined together as one comes not only from their union but from the source of their union who is God. No wonder marriage is a big threat to the devil. He knows the power it brings and he understands that it is not easily broken.
Though the devil knows that a threefold cord is not quickly broken, he also knows that if he deceives one of them, then the threefold cord can be shattered. All he has to do is separate the man and woman. But didn’t God say “LET NO MAN SEPARATE”? Exactly!!! God gave the command to the husband and wife to not let any man separate their union. It is their responsibility, not the devil’s. This means that if the husband and/or wife allows someone to break their marriage, then it will be broken.
This was the same instruction God gave to Adam when He commanded him in Genesis 2:15 to tend the garden and keep it. I believe that the garden here was not just the literal garden but his marriage. To tend means “to look after” and Adam did not do a good job in this area. How else did the serpent enter the garden? And what about Eve? I believe that Adam gave him the same instructions God gave him. Yet, she did not take it seriously. The serpent entered the garden because Adam did not watch after it, and Eve did not even care or perhaps she didn’t even see it as a threat.
Do you see the problem here? Unless we see our marriage as the same garden, and unless we take God’s command seriously to “tend it” and not to let any man separate it, we will not do our jobs well. We have to look beyond our marriage and see it as a gift that God has entrusted to us. The husband and the wife have their respective roles to guard it. Unless we see it this way, the enemy will creep in, the same way he did in the garden.
His tactics today in destroying marriages is no different from his style in the garden. He manipulated Eve by playing with her soul – her mind and her emotions. The same way he told Eve, “Can it really be” is the same way he is talking to every wife now ... “Can it really be that God said that you should submit to your husband”? And the wife may answer the same way Eve did: “But God said that a wife must submit to her husband as unto Him”. I can already hear the devil’s answer to this one as: “As unto the Lord which means if your husband is really obeying God. You know he is not totally obedient to God so you are excused from submitting to him”. Then just like Eve the wife now sees that what the devil said is good. She now listens to him and bam! ... the wife disobeys God and the devil enters the marriage with the objective of totally destroying it.
Though the devil knows that a threefold cord is not quickly broken, he also knows that if he deceives one of them, then the threefold cord can be shattered. All he has to do is separate the man and woman. But didn’t God say “LET NO MAN SEPARATE”? Exactly!!! God gave the command to the husband and wife to not let any man separate their union. It is their responsibility, not the devil’s. This means that if the husband and/or wife allows someone to break their marriage, then it will be broken.
This was the same instruction God gave to Adam when He commanded him in Genesis 2:15 to tend the garden and keep it. I believe that the garden here was not just the literal garden but his marriage. To tend means “to look after” and Adam did not do a good job in this area. How else did the serpent enter the garden? And what about Eve? I believe that Adam gave him the same instructions God gave him. Yet, she did not take it seriously. The serpent entered the garden because Adam did not watch after it, and Eve did not even care or perhaps she didn’t even see it as a threat.
Do you see the problem here? Unless we see our marriage as the same garden, and unless we take God’s command seriously to “tend it” and not to let any man separate it, we will not do our jobs well. We have to look beyond our marriage and see it as a gift that God has entrusted to us. The husband and the wife have their respective roles to guard it. Unless we see it this way, the enemy will creep in, the same way he did in the garden.
His tactics today in destroying marriages is no different from his style in the garden. He manipulated Eve by playing with her soul – her mind and her emotions. The same way he told Eve, “Can it really be” is the same way he is talking to every wife now ... “Can it really be that God said that you should submit to your husband”? And the wife may answer the same way Eve did: “But God said that a wife must submit to her husband as unto Him”. I can already hear the devil’s answer to this one as: “As unto the Lord which means if your husband is really obeying God. You know he is not totally obedient to God so you are excused from submitting to him”. Then just like Eve the wife now sees that what the devil said is good. She now listens to him and bam! ... the wife disobeys God and the devil enters the marriage with the objective of totally destroying it.
The devil’s goal is to divide the husband and the wife so he can conquer. He will make them look at each other as enemies instead of members of the same team. To divide them means to make them disobey the instructions of God for them respectively.
The devil will make the wife resist her husband’s authority over her. He will make her see that her husband is controlling, and that he is an enemy who wants to stifle her growth. If the devil succeeds in this, then the wife now falls outside of her husband’s covering and will be easily attacked. On the other hand, the devil will make the husband neglect his wife. He will make him feel that his wife’s need for his love and attention is just a result of her own insecurities. He will feel suffocated by her and would not even want to be around her. If the devil succeeds in this, then the husband’s prayers will be hindered and there will be no covering for their marriage.
God is so full of wisdom for ordaining and setting to stone the respective roles of the husband and wife. God commanding the husband to love his wife as Jesus loves His church is for the protection of his own marriage. God knows how vulnerable the woman is which is why she needs her man to cover her. God commanded the man to love his wife so he can offer her to God unblemished. In short, the wife’s purity before God is in the husband’s hands.
God’s command to the wife to submit to her husband is for her own protection. Without his covering over her she will be very prone to the attack of the devil. Her submission to him creates a force field around her; her resistance of him creates a crack in this force field.
Open your eyes husbands and wives. Don’t make it very easy for the devil to walk in and out of your garden. Guard it with all eyes and ears. Stay alert at all times.
Husband, continue loving your wife whether she submits to you or not. You are the head and so what you do will flow from you to her. When you submit to God, she will automatically submit to you.
Wife, continue submitting to your husband whether he is loving you or not. Your submission to him matched with your gentle spirit will make your husband see Jesus in you and it will make him submit to God.
If one of you will remain standing, no matter what happens, there will still be one left to hold on to the “cord” which is God Himself.
Don’t let the devil deceive you any further. You are not each other’s enemies. You belong to the same team. You are one. Together, show that enemy of ours who he is ... a defeated foe whose doomsday has already been established.
God is so full of wisdom for ordaining and setting to stone the respective roles of the husband and wife. God commanding the husband to love his wife as Jesus loves His church is for the protection of his own marriage. God knows how vulnerable the woman is which is why she needs her man to cover her. God commanded the man to love his wife so he can offer her to God unblemished. In short, the wife’s purity before God is in the husband’s hands.
God’s command to the wife to submit to her husband is for her own protection. Without his covering over her she will be very prone to the attack of the devil. Her submission to him creates a force field around her; her resistance of him creates a crack in this force field.
Open your eyes husbands and wives. Don’t make it very easy for the devil to walk in and out of your garden. Guard it with all eyes and ears. Stay alert at all times.
Husband, continue loving your wife whether she submits to you or not. You are the head and so what you do will flow from you to her. When you submit to God, she will automatically submit to you.
Wife, continue submitting to your husband whether he is loving you or not. Your submission to him matched with your gentle spirit will make your husband see Jesus in you and it will make him submit to God.
If one of you will remain standing, no matter what happens, there will still be one left to hold on to the “cord” which is God Himself.
Don’t let the devil deceive you any further. You are not each other’s enemies. You belong to the same team. You are one. Together, show that enemy of ours who he is ... a defeated foe whose doomsday has already been established.
Lisa Maki is the founder, publisher, and editor of God'z Gurlz. More about Lisa at ...
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