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Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus:
I repent. I need to spend more time with my wife, sacrificing my own interests in order to enhance hers.
I repent that pastoring for 18 years and then this repentance ministry over time has made me lose focus on how I can bless every day my precious bride. Honey, I apologize. I am convicted and want to do better. Please forgive me.
Here is Ephesians 5: 20-33, amplified version:
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house].
25 Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], 27 so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. 28 Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members (parts) of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined [and be faithfully devoted] to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery [of two becoming one] is great; but I am speaking with reference to [the relationship of] Christ and the church. 33 However, each man among you [without exception] is to love his wife as his very own self [with behavior worthy of respect and esteem, always seeking the best for her with an attitude of lovingkindness], and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear]."
Pastor Jack Hayford had a powerful view of marriage based on Ephesians 5:21-33. This is from his New Spirit Filled Life Bible, pages 1653, 1654:
"All believers are called to live in mutual submission to one another. (verse 21). This applies in a unique way to the husband/wife relationship. (verse 22). The wife is called to submit to her husband 'as to the Lord,' to respect, regard and deeply care for him ( Greek phlobeo, 'to reverence' or 'to be in awe of,' (verse 24, 1 Peter 3:5,6). This points toward her serving her husband, honoring him, and edifying him (building him up). Her attitude, according to this terminology---"as to the Lord"----is to be one of highest esteem and regard.
"In a matching ---even more, and initiating and leading way--- the husband is called to lay down his life for his wife. He is to sacrifice his own interests in order to enhance hers. His role is to nourish (Greek ekrepho) to support her growth toward her own maturity) and to cherish (Greek thalli, to warmly care for and attend to). In this way, each marriage partner contributes to bringing the other their full potential.
"A marriage lived out in this mutually loving environment mirrors the interactive love that Christ has for His Church and His church is called to have toward Him. (1 Corinthians 7:3,4 / Matthew 19:5-8).
"Within marriage, the companion truth of mutual responsiveness to the New Testament elaboration of Genesis 2:23,24 is pivotal today. Ephesians 5:21-32 reveals 'submission' and 'cleaving' as bookends of the same truth: 'Because she was taken out of Man' (Genesis 2: 23), therefore, the man (husband) is to cleave (be joined) to his wife, and she is to submit to him as her 'head' (source, origin). Without both sides in place, the structure (family, the church, and society) topples over. Furthermore, 'order' is not all there is to the point: it is about relationship, interdependency, and God's original design. In essence, the man and woman began as one in Adam. After the divine surgery, cleaving and submitting were the dynamic that would keep them united in relationship and function as they manifested the image of God, male and female, in the Earth. ( Outside the marriage relationship, corporate submission 'to one another' (Ephesians 5:21) secures the dynamic of God's intended health and productivity for all relationships). (Proverbs 31:13,21,25,27 / 1 Peter 3:4)."
Perhaps there are other pastors who may want to join me in this prayer: " Abba Father, in Jesus' Name, I repent; please forgive me for failing in any way to implement fully and regularly, day after day, Your Wisdom and Your Words, to bring Your original design deep into my marriage. Please help me restore the balance, the interdependency, the daily, wonderful experience of being "one flesh." Open my eyes for more opportunities to enhance my precious wife's interests, to bring her into great Joy, into her full potential to fulfill Your call on her life. In Jesus' Name, Amen and Amen."
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Virtually every day more requests for help come to us than we have NDR funds to give. Pastors preaching repentance [ Mark 6:12] are delivering and healing people [ Mark 6:13], bringing thousands into Jesus' Kingdom. The GOOD NEWS is that repentance is ON FIRE in the youth and pastors, especially in Africa. They need funds for physical food and logistics even as they are giving out His Spiritual Food.
Pastor Jeff
National Day of Repentance
Box 246
Middletown CA. 95461
pastorjeff@repentday.com
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