Your Reactions Matter A Lot

Hello blessed people, trust you are doing very great. So today we continue with our discussion on the life and marriage of Samson’s parents that we started in the last post. We learned a very important lesson in the last post that relates to the importance of communication in marriage and significance of your spouse being your true soul-mate. Today we will learn a little more.

Judges 13:6-11

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord; “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”

God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.  The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”

Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the one who talked to my wife?”

“I am,” he said.

What I want us to consider in this passage is Manoah’s reaction to the exciting tale of his wife. The way and manner this man handled the issue in this story tells a lot of about his personality and characteristics.

First Manoah didn’t dismiss what his wife told him as a fallacy or a fairy tale, he wasn’t too busy to hear her out and he didn’t think that what she said she saw must have been a figment of her imagination owing to the fact that she was sterile and that could have its psychological effects on her. Rather Manoah listened to his wife and then prayed.

Another lesson I am learning about this man Manoah is that he didn’t take offense at the fact that the angel of the Lord appeared to his wife and not him. Some self-consumed men would have assumed that as the head of the home they should be the one that God would appear to and relate with on matters that concerns his family. But this man accepted the words of his wife, believed it and ran with it as the Bible tells us that he prayed.

When we read the content of Manoah’s prayer, we will notice that when Manoah made reference to the angel, he said of him as “the man you sent to us” and not “the man you sent to my wife” because he held on to the truth that he is one with his wife; as long as the angel appeared to one, he has invariably appeared to the two of them and so he used the word "us". A handful of men still see themselves as separate entities from their wives and this is so very wrong.

And the God who honors the marriage union and holds the unity of marriage so very dear heard and answered Manoah’s prayers and the angel of the Lord appeared again. It is this same faithful God who heard and answered the prayers of Isaac on behalf of his barren wife Rebekah. And these are the exceptional excellent qualities of a loving and caring husband named Manoah that caused the Lord to bless him with a gifted child who was born a deliverer of Israel.

But for a man who breaks faith with the wife of his youth, the Lord says He will not hear or answer the prayer of such a man or accept their sacrifice with pleasure (Malachi 2:13). A man who treats his wife with disdain, he sits on his own prayers; his actions have constituted a hindrance to his own.

May the Lord bless our homes in Jesus name. 

As a Married Person, Who is Your Confidant?

Good day my lovely friends, how has your day been? I believe you have had a very fulfilling day so far to the glory of God.

In today’s post we will be looking at a story in the Bible found in Judges 13. It's the story of a man and his wife; precisely the story of Samson’s parents. This is one couple that by the grace of God we will be learning a thing or two from their union. 

Judges 13:2-6

A certain man of Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and remain childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazarite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philitines.”

Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very handsome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he told me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazarite of God from birth until the day of his death.’”

I will like to title today’s message as: “As a married person, who is your confidant?” This is the first thing the Lord is dropping in my spirit concerning this couple as we begin to have a look at the marriage of Samson’s parents. 

The Bible tells us that Samson’s mother was sterile and so childless, but the Bible did not tell us that Samson’s father had another wife except his mother and so that automatically tells us that Samson’s father was also childless as the wife who was supposed to bear him children was sterile. 

Interestingly, this situation or challenge did not appear to affect their union as the Bible never said anything to imply, that though we don’t know for how long they both had to stick it out with each other and their common problem of childlessness. I will say that I have big respect for Manoah because he didn’t allow pressure from this situation make him loss faith in God or deny his wife. Though she was sterile, yet she was his wife and she remained his wife.

But the big beautiful lesson in this story is that when the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and gave all the instructions about the coming child, it was natural that she was consumed with joy and excitement. And the first person she ran to was her husband to share her joy and her excitement. For me it is beyond mere giving a report, it was a conveyance of joy as she narrated her tale to her husband. And that brings to mind one important factor in marriage. As a wife when you hear a good news or a miracle has just been dropped on your laps, who do you run to first to share your excitement with? This goes a long way to tell you who the most important person to you in your life is. 

It’s just natural to gravitate towards where your heart is. When you get a news that makes you leap for joy just as this one received by Manoah’s wife, the first person you want to share it with is the one closest to you. It’s a shame that not every married couple will run to their spouses as times such as this. Some will even share the news with their parents and siblings before their spouse gets a wing of what could be going on, yet they are supposed to be bone of same bone and flesh of same flesh. 

There are a number of husbands who do not have the time for the excitement in the lives of their wives, what excites her are trivial to them, over time the wife finds another soul-mate to share her joys with and that becomes the beginning of a broken marriage. 

But Manoah seem to be a special breed of husband, despite the challenge in the life of his wife, he still remains her soul-mate; the one she runs to in good times and bad times. The man she shares her joy with whenever she finds one. And this makes me doff my heart in respect of this sweet loving husband by the name of Manoah. 

I came across a man who ended up with an extra-marital affair as a skeleton in his cupboard owing to the fact that when he needs someone to talk to his wife is always too tired for him. He eventually found another friend who was always willing to lend an ear to him and listen to his bags of gist. She gives him advice when necessary, and so when he needs someone to talk to he turns to this lady and gradually the friendship grow beyond what he has bargained for. 

According to this man, the strange lady is in no way better than his wife at home, but she is there for him to pour his heart to whenever he needs to talk. She became his confidant and eventually his lover. Even though I do not exonerate this man of wrong doing, I will say that his wife shares in the blame. Her husband is her business; she should never get too tired for her business. 

I am sure a lot of us have read the story of the birth of Samson, but just like I have and so very surprised at the hidden lessons contained in the story. So tomorrow we will learn some more and pray that God opens up the truth of His word to us and reveal to us the hidden things therein to help us improve our marriages. But in the meantime take a moment to think, “Is your spouse really your soul-mate, someone you run to when your heart is heavy either with joy, sadness or worry?” If not, that is an indication that something is seriously wrong and needs attention and correction. May the Lord bless us as we strive to build our homes and marriage in preparation for a better life to the glory of God. 

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God's Law for Marriage 2

It’s another glorious day and another glorious reason to thank the Lord. Big of all, it’s another talk day as we make effort to a better life beginning with a better marital experience.

So without any long intro, we will continue our gist on God’s rules for marriage. We started with God's rules for the wives in the last post and today we will look at the rules for the husbands. In doing that we will be going back to the theme scriptures of the last post were we found God’s rules for marriage.

Ephesians 5:22-30, 33

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of his body.

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Colossians 3:18-19

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

1 Peter 3:1-7

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine cloths. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed her Abraham and called him master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life. So hat nothing will hinder your prayers.

It feels so very good to be the head, being the head or the leader of a team accrues some level of power to it and it’s so easy for pride to set in and overwhelm a person when you know that you call the shots and you have people who are answerable to you; they take instructions from you and obey just as you have instructed.

But what is easily forgotten is that with such power comes huge responsibility. For those people who are answerable to you, you are also accountable for them. For anything that goes wrong you take the blame whereas you might not necessarily take the accolade for things that goes right. In truth, "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

The first thing I noticed concerning God’s instruction to the men is that as a husband he is the head of his wife and then the entire family. That automatically makes him accountable for his wife and his entire family. The wellbeing of his wife and his entire family are his responsibility; the growth and development of his wife and his entire family both physically and spiritually is his responsibility.

That is why when you see a woman who has added a considerable amount of body weight after marriage and maybe giving birth, it is often said that her husband is taking good care of her (even if that is not be the case). And you will also notice that in the Old Testament God is always calling on His men to hold fast to the His laws, and the same laws should not depart from their mouths but that they should teach those laws to their child and their entire household. That is God calling on the men to develop their household spiritually. Now you understand that the development of the wife and the entire household is the responsibility of the husband.

But the major rule given to the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. Quite a number of men love their wives, but just a few of them love their wives as Christ loves the church; that is the unselfish, unconditional, sacrificial love that keeps on loving even to the point of death.

This love that God speaks of in this rule to the husband has no condition attached to it; it’s not the kind of love you have for your wife because she respects and obeys you; it’s not the kind of love that she earns as a result of her submission to you; it’s not the kind of love that you show when you are in public and your wife is glowing like a masterpiece of all of God’s creation; it’s not the kind of love that requires that your wife knows how to cook delicious meals and her presentation is on point; it’s not the kind of love that you show because your wife is the managing director of her organization and she is at the peak of her career. This is a kind of love that requires no clause and no sentiment attached to it. This love is without prerequisite, it's a love you just give and keep giving despite all her shortfalls in the same manner Christ loves the church.

It is a love that is pure and real and a love that is worth dying for. A love that is diligent and will keep on loving even when it gets nothing in return. Christ is the epitome of this kind of love; He is the leading example of this kind of love. And if by your own strength you are unable to give this kind of love, then go Jesus, with Him in your life running the show to love like this becomes very possible for you.

God is not going to drop the standard of love required by the husband to his wife just because the husband is unable to meet up, but rather God will lift up the husband to the approved standard of His ideal husband so that he is able to match up with what is required of him.

But should a man keep on loving a wife who does not respect or submit to him; a wife who is too demanding and never satisfied or contented with the best available; always taking and never giving, a wife who is lazy and cannot lift a finger but expects that her husband slaves himself for her? 

Well like I mentioned in the last post, a marriage covenant is tripartite covenant arrangement and everyone has a defined role to play in this triangular relationship. The role of the husband is to head the wife and the family and his rules of engagement is love unconditionally, and the rule of engagement for the wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord and then God is the overseer of that union and judge of both of them.  God never fails and He is never late and He is always just. So when either the husband or wife fails in their rules of engagement, God punishes the offender after much room has been given for repentance, and he judges according to the weight of the offence.

If a man decides to take action against his wife’s misbehavior, he is going beyond his scope of engagement in this triangular relationship and infringing into God’s area of engagement and even that comes with its consequences. So also it is that failure for the woman to perform her role well and obey her own rules of engagement in marriage comes with its consequences. 

The ability of the man to obey his own rules of engagement in marriage is not found in the actions or inactions of his wife. Though it is his wife that the man has been asked to love unconditionally, but this love is not subject to what the wife does or does not. So when God calls the man to account over his failure to obey the rules of engagement for his marriage, the man cannot give his wife as an excuse for failure. When as a husband you fulfill your own side of the covenant by obeying the rules of engagement and your wife fulfills her own side of the covenant by obeying her own rules of engagement, your marriage is at peace and there is nothing for God to judge, just a peaceful union for Him to protect and guard.

May the Lord bless our homes and marriages in Jesus name.

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God's Law For Marriage

Good day great and special children of God. It’s another week and in fact the third week of the year. We thank God for His grace on our lives and for the many blessings that we will still receive from Him.

We will take the next few posts in observing the rules for marriage. Some would wonder if indeed there are rules to follow in marriage. It is often said that human beings are irrational beings and so our behaviors cannot be generalized; what works for Mr.A might not work for Mr. B. But there are God’s rules for marriage. The God who instituted marriage also stated the rules of engagement in marriage such that the institution will not collapse, and that it might be protected from chaos. But baseless traditions and unfounded norms have eroded the purpose and plan of God for marriage. The marriage institution as it is today is in chaos and on the verge of collapse basically because the people for whom the institution was established have refused to follow the rules of engagement. And some don’t even know that there are rules of engagement existing in the institution. Whereas some have substituted human tradition and norms for God's rules of engagement for marriage. But God who created marriage created it with rules to follow and the code of conduct and character requisite to thrive in the institution.

We have studied the “Overseer Husband” and “The Wife of Noble Character” which I will say are the codes of conduct and the codes of character that a man and a woman needs to imbibe for a successful marriage. So we will look at God’s rules of engagement in marriage.

Ephesians 5:22-30, 33

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of his body.

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Colossians 3:18-19

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

1 Peter 3:1-7

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine cloths. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed her Abraham and called him master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life. So hat nothing will hinder your prayers.

If we do not know that there are rules of engagement in marriage before now, then here they are before us in the scriptures above as stated in the Bible. These are not man-made rules postulated by any humans, but they are God given rules that should guide us in marriage. Even though there are other side instructions in marriage and there are code of conduct for every man and woman in marriage and there are characteristics of a man that makes him out to be a good and god fearing husband and also characteristics of a woman to makes her into a good and godly wife, but for the rules of engagement in marriage they as found in the scriptures above.

God’s rules of engagement in marriage starts with the wife; she is the first person to get the instruction for marriage from God. When I first came across these sets of scriptures, the first thing God showed me was the fact that the wives were the first to be addressed. Noting that it’s the same with all three scriptures even though they were written by two different men showed that it was not just a coincidence, but was deliberately stated so as a message on its own.

God’s instruction first came to the wives because the wife is the foundation builder in any and every successful marriage. The life and success of every marriage is determined by characteristic and inherent values of the wife. Proverbs 14:1 says, “The wise woman builds her home, but with her own hands the foolish one tears her down,” there are a whole lot of roles a man plays in marriage as the husband; most importantly, he needs to be on top of his game to be the head over his wife, but it is the woman who builds the home and not the man. So we are not surprised that God will begin the giving of His laws with the woman. The success of a marriage is determined by how well the wife builds the home (which is not the physical structure, but the marriage structure).  

The law given to the wife who is the home builder of a successful marriage says “SUBMIT to your husband as unto the Lord and in everything.” To submit means “to willingly place yourself under the authority of another.” God did not give any exception to this rule, He didn’t say that you should submit yourself to your husband only when He is godly, or only when he is picking and paying the bills for the family upkeep and expenses or only when he is loving and caring. But all we have God say is that "wives submit to your husband as to the Lord."

Again, we read God instructing through Paul that wives should submit to their husbands in everything; so whether you are richer than him, wiser than him, godlier than him, older than him and every other clause that you might wish to add to it, the Lord says as long as he is your husband, he is your head and you are to submit to him. Any other rule in marriage for the wife that contradicts this rule is not from God and will only lead to chaos and eventual collapse of the marriage unit.

Proverbs 14:1 says, “the wise woman builds her home” and God’s instruction to the woman who will do well to build her home says “submit to your husband as to the Lord,” so a woman who submits to her husband is a woman who obeys the word of God and as such she is a wise woman. This is quite contradictory to what the tradition of today portrays that a woman who obeys her husband in everything is foolish. They say you cannot continue to do just what your husband tells you to do; in doing so, you are a fool. But what the Bible is showing us is that rather than obedience to your husband being foolishness, it is wisdom. This is one of the reasons why I always say that one of the greatest enemies to our marriage is TRADITION.

A woman will always worry when she is so very submissive to her husband and she gets nothing in return. Rather than her husband appreciating her devotion to him and the marriage he is mean to her and expending his love, attention and money on adulterous and lustful activities. Well in every covenant everyone has a role to play; your marriage is tripartite covenant between you, your husband and God. Everyone in this covenant relationship has a role to play and failure to play their role comes with great consequences.

The only sure fact in this tripartite covenant relationship is God, He will never fail in His role and He pays every other member back based on the quality and quantity of their input in the covenant relationship. Malachi 2:13 gives us insight into this role of God in our marriage covenant. 

So your role as a wife is to submit to your husband and to do so in everything. God’s role is to judge and deal His wrath on the man/woman who breaks the marriage covenant by failing to perform his/her role to expectation and your husband's role is to love you unconditionally. By trying to avenge yourself in marriage is going beyond your role and infringing into God’s role with accrues its own punishment. But when you continue in your role of submission to your husband and you do so diligently and your husband fails in his role and also does so diligently, then God will perform His own role as a judge and will also do so diligently. So don’t let anything or anyone, not even your husband make you shift on obeying God’s law for your life in marriage which is to submit to your husband as to the Lord.

So we continue in the next post by looking at God’s law for the husbands. I sincerely hope that we are appreciating what God is beginning to do in our lives and marriages. May the Lord bless our homes in Jesus name. 

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The Wife of Noble Character 4

Good day gracious and wonderful children of the Most High God, I am positive you’ve had a blessed day so far and today will end in praise to God in Jesus name.

Proverbs 31:24-31

She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I am tempted to say that end of this study is more loaded than all that we’ve considered so far. From the praise given to the wife of noble character by her husband which reads that “many women do noble things, but you (this particular woman/wife) surpass them all” tells me that though we have women who do pocket of noble stuff but for a wife to be regarded as a wife of noble character, she needs to be an all-round embodiments of noble stuff and she does not do noble stuff just once in a while, she does noble stuff at all times and in all things. Indeed a wife of noble character who can find?

We start today’s study with verse 24 which says, “She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.” So she is not just multitasking in home keeping, she is also multitasking in business activities. We remember that it is the same wife of noble character that considers a field and buys it and with her earnings plants a vineyard; so she in an entrepreneur in all facets of business and very hard working. 

But her business life has not prevented her from watching over the affairs of her household; she is on top of the activities in her home, and still she is an embodiment of wisdom and faithful instructions are on her tongue. She is a woman who has circumcised her heart and bridled her tongue such that all that proceeds from her mouth are wise counsel. Such are the values of a wife of noble character. And that is why her husband will compare her with other women and affirm that she surpasses them all.

And because she has not abandoned the affairs of her household into the hands of maid servants but rather oversees the care of her family personally despite her busy entrepreneurial activities, her children call her blessed. Business has not taken the love and attention of their mother away from them.

And then this woman that has been described in the past four days of study is a woman who fears the Lord. I can say with all confidence that no woman can pull all these through without God. The source of her strength and the secret of all her ability are hidden in the fact that she is a woman who fears the Lord; and this is a very big lesson for all of us who wish to pull the feats that this wife of noble character is pulling in our homes, marriages and personal lives.

Solomon ended this by saying “Give her the reward that she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Indeed the wife of noble character has worked hard and deserves all the praises that has accrued to her. But other than praises there is a reward that awaits this woman of excellence. All that she has done is not just an effort in futility, they are labor that deserves to be rewarded and the Bible tells us that surely the reward will come, it will not delay. So when you see a woman that seem to have everything going well for her, don’t count her lucky, ask her what work she has done and she is being rewarded for.

I will implore all women reading this to strive to be a wife of noble character; it’s a noble course that is worth all the reward that comes with it. It is hard work with great blessings and the secret of achievement is found in the fear of God. May the Lord uphold and bless all women reading this in Jesus name. 

The Wife of Noble Character 3

It’s another beautiful morning and with it are loaded divine blessings for those who wait on the Lord. I just checked the date and realized that we have already spent 12 days into the new year. Everything seems so fast and I hope that daily we are matching up our goals, our walk with God, and our aspirations with the speed of time. If you have not started making good your new year resolutions, you better realize the you are already getting to 12 days late. May the Lord give us divine strength, grace and wisdom in Jesus name.

So we are continuing with our study of the “Wife of Noble Character” and this study has ignited a lot of thoughts and call to action in my life and I pray that it is waking up some dead potentials in your lives too in Jesus name.

Proverbs 31:20-23

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

Proverbs 12:4

A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

We continue to find out what makes a wife of noble character a substance of value and the first thing that we see in the third badge of verses of the scripture we are looking at is that she opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy (Proverbs 31:20). She is a woman of compassion not just to her own family, but also to those outside of her family who need help and support. She is not one to look down on people; she is not the kind of woman who is carried away with world class structure. where the rich only relate with the rich and the poor mingle only with their kind. She is approachable by all and shows the love of God to all.

Then she is a woman of vision and discernment; she is blessed with wisdom and can read the signs of times ahead and prepare her household in advance. Now this household is without exception. She does not just prepare her children and leaves the husband out, but she prepares her entire household ahead of time. She knows what they would need before they actually do need it and makes it available even before they are required.

There are a lot of times that wives stuff the home with items that sometimes appear as junks. You would call them junks until the day they are needed and you run to get them and bless your God that you bought such item ahead of time. Such is the value of a wife of noble character. She is a woman of God who listens to the voice of God in her and is able to know how to prepare her family ahead of time for any occurrence based on what she hears in her spirit man. These are the qualities that makes her a woman of value; a highly prized possession.

Solomon says she makes coverings for her bed, and this reminds of the African proverb that says “It is the way you lay your bed that you will lie on it.” The wife of noble character is one who is wise enough to take the time to make her bed well, and when I say bed I am not referring to the physical bed that she lies on, but the bed of her marriage and life; the bed of her home. She has put up a good foundation for a marriage as a wife who pours value into the life of her husband and so she will rest in the comfort of a joyful and peaceful marriage.

She is clothed in fine linen and purple tells me that she is one who takes good care of herself too. After she has taken care of her household and she has put herself through hard work, she is returning to ensure that she also is well taken care of by her; she is not leaving herself out in this effort.

And then Solomon says “Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land,” what a proud husband such a man would be. Now consider this: as a man you are married to a wife who is of great value and pours her value into your life irrespective of you; she is a hardworking woman who works vigorously without depending on you and would not relent until she sees that her trade is profitable; then she is a wife who places high priority on her family and brings her food for them from afar; then she is a wise woman of discernment who is able to read the times and prepares her household in advance such that nothing catches her by surprise and she has no fear for her family's future; then she is a woman who loves to help those in need; a humble and approachable loving woman who would extend a hand of fellowship and love to those in need without looking down on them derogatorily. And she is a woman who takes the time to take care of herself. Would you not be proud as a man to be a husband to such a woman as this?

The fact that this great woman that I have just described is your wife will automatically accrue respect for you in your society. You are considered blessed and even great to be a man to own such a prized possession. Just like a man who owns precious metals such as gold and diamonds is considered a rich man and is respected by all for is wealth, so is a man married to a wife of noble character considered blessed and respected by all. Solomon said in Proverbs 12:4 that “a wife of noble character is her husband’s crown” and he is not wrong at all on this saying.

I have been so blessed so far in this discoveries being made of a wife of noble character and I am beginning to score myself on this standard and realizing that there are still some areas where a need to do a little more. So what about you? Did you pass the test so far after scoring yourself based on these standards? I feel so grateful that this is coming at a time like this and I pray that this year will be our year of turn around for many wives. We will no longer listen to the lies of the devil. We will pour value into our marriage and husbands and watch God multiple our seed such that we will begin to glow in His glory.

The next post will be a roundup of the series on the wife of noble character. Until then, remain blessed.

The Wife of Noble Character 2

I thank God for the gift of another day and for the breath of life and I remain forever grateful. But I won’t forget to thank Him for your lives also and for what He is bringing about in your lives, homes and marriages through the messages shared on this blog.

So we continue on what we started yesterday; “the wife of noble character,” and I hope and pray that great lessons will be learned, hopes will be made alive in so many marriages by virtue of what is learned in this series in Jesus name.

Proverbs 31:13-19

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her task.

She sees that her trading is profitable, her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

Reading through the next seven verses after that which we studied yesterday, I now understand why Solomon would say that a wife of noble character who can find. The verses we are considering today speaks of the strength and the entrepreneurial ability of the wife of noble character.

We have recognized and appreciated the fact that a wife of noble character is a wife of value. She is a substance that has a great deal of value accrued to her, but what makes her a substance of value is what we will be learning from today’s verses.

Solomon says such a woman selects wool and flax and works with eager hands, so she is not a kind of woman that sits around and expects that all that she needs and wants will be laid on her laps effortlessly. She is a woman who is willing and ready to get her hands dirty in work and by so doing sowing seeds of her labor that will guarantee a harvest for her in due season.

She is like the merchant ships who will not eat the fruit of idleness but rather engage in productive activities with the purpose of providing food for her family. The Bible says she brings her food from afar and not that her food is brought to her from afar. She rises and go get her food from afar and then provide the same food for her family. And I hope and pray that those wives who stay on the word that a man who does not provide for his family is as good as an unbeliever and use that as an excuse to make the lives of their husbands a living hell will also read this and understand that a wife of noble character is one who goes very far to get her food which she in turn provides for her family.

Then we read that a wife of noble character considers a field and buys it, and then with her earning she plants a vineyard. When she considers a field, she is not running to her husband for help, she is standing on her feet and sorting out her issues and desires with her God such that the Bible says with her own earnings she plants a vineyard.

Going forward, she is not just planting the vineyard, but she is setting to work vigorously on the vineyard with strong arms for her task. She puts herself to work until her trade becomes profitable and she is sure that her lamp is not going out at night. She is not just planning for now, but working also for the future. Such is that value of a wife of noble character. So we understand why such a wife as this is scarce.

A lot of wives have relented in effort such that they are non-existence without the income of their husbands. They are comfortably relenting in effort because they have eaten the mediocre bread and have misconstrued the word of God that says that a man who does not provide for his family is as good as an unbeliever. But they forget that the same Bible said that “if a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonian 3:7-10).  

Some wives will fight their husbands tooth and nail because he is not giving them enough money and you then wonder if they are not created to work. There is no one person that God created without the talent to propel him/her to greatness and make good income for him/her. The only difference between a rich man and a poor is knowledge, the ability to discover and nurture your talent to grow and the ability to wait on God. The Bible says the gift of a man will make a way for him and brings him before great men (Proverbs 18:16).

Now we know some of the attributes of a wife of noble character that makes her a woman of value. She is one who is cloth with strength and dignity, a hardworking entrepreneur. She is woman who holds her family in high priority, thus bringing food for them from afar. She is a woman who nourishes her husband's life with value. A woman whose husband has full confidence in, not as a burden or a liability, but as a reliable suitable helper placed in his life by God.

So I ask, are you such a woman as described above? After this exhaustive insight I am also beginning to see a need for me to cry out to God on my life. To be a wife of noble character is a huge task but still attainable by the grace of God. But I want to implore the wives that as we begin a new year and as we continue to seek the face of God for things we want God to do for us this year, I pray that one of our request would be that the Lord will make us wives of noble character. It’s time for us to begin to sow positive seeds into our marriages that will yield for us not just here on earth, but also in heaven.

So we continue in the next post to make new discoveries about the wife of noble character. Until then, remain blessed.