What is my role today as wife?

Mereas,

Recently, a brother in the Messiah sent me an email regarding his marriage and their prospective roles within.  I thought I'd share its content with you, perhaps to quicken our wifely hearts and REMIND us how, in one fell swoop, we can [yes, are called] to love those lovely hunks of men called husbands ADONAI has given to us.

Here is our Brother's (edited) email to me: 

Dear Carmen,

i like you blog and i would like to give you my more sincere congratulations for it. I guess you are very busy woman, and maybe you do not have the time to answer private questions but anyway I would like also to take the chance and ask you about some questions that are really pressing my mind/life sometimes.  I am married to a wonderful wife...

My question is, of course from the Christian point of view of the word of God, what do you feel about women leading the household? is it sin? is it wrong for a man to be natural subordinated to his wife inside the family?

I thank you immensely any answer and God bless you.

My response to our brother's question:

"As with all questions we may have pertaining to the Word of God and life, ADONAI reveals His Truth to us as we study TOGETHER with other Believers.  Are you and your wife involved in a fellowship where you can study as a couple and a men's fellowship and women's fellowship separately?  In the context of a group setting is when and where ADONAI reveals His greatest Truths to us.

I asked my husband what advice he'd give to you and he said that you'd gain a great deal of understanding and depth as you study alongside a body of brothers and pastors in your local fellowship.  Your question is not a short email thread, but rather an unfolding and unveiling of Truth over time and practice (sanctification) regarding His intentions that you both may operate in your God-ordained roles in the power of His Spirit.

She is to "phobeo" (Greek, meaning 'revere, respect, be in awe of') you and you are to love (agapeo) her as Christ loved the Set-apart Ones (church).  We are BOTH called (as set-apart ones) to LOVE AS CHRIST fully in the roles HE has ordained.  That takes mutual submission realizing that the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the assembly of Believers. (Ephesians 5)

May ADONAI RICHLY BLESS your marriage (and thus, your family) as you both seek Him together for His blessing, favor, mercy, power, protection, provisions and LIFE abundant.  

"For it is written that man shall not live by Bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." ~Yeshua HaMashiach (Matthew 4:4)

To LOVE AS CHRIST is the question we all should ask daily, regardless of the role HE has put us in.

May HE be glorified in us!"

And May HE so be...and may our husbands, without hesitation, be able to say...

He who finds a wife finds a great good; he has won the favor of ADONAI.

~ Proverbs 18:22

Fear and Impatience

Relax and Enjoy God's Goodness Today!

Bid the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble,  So that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (Gk. 'sophronizo') and to love their husbands and their children,  To be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited). 

~ Titus 2:3-5 AMP

FEAR and IMPATIENCE are two main inhibitors that often keep us from a fulfilled life.  

FEAR imprisons and paralyzes us while IMPATIENCE drives us forward prematurely.  FEAR causes the Believer to fall far behind while IMPATIENCE can drive the same Believer too far ahead and out of the position and favor of God. 

These two are the antithesis of DISCIPLINE and DEVOTION.  Does that bring back memories of 2 Timothy 1:7?  

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control (Gk. 'sophronismos').  

Both words hail from the root word 'sophron'.  

Sozo - ‘to heal, deliver and make whole’ AND Phren - ‘the mind, feelings and understanding’  

2 Timothy 1:7 proclaims that our LORD has not given us a spirit of fear, but HE has given us the Spirit of Power and Love which ‘MAKES a sound and whole mind’!  That is such powerful wisdom for living!

Now, with that, comes our great responsibility and privilege of TEACHING and TRAINING the younger women of the church ‘making them of a sound mind’.  

Did you notice that the Teacher is a ‘teacher of good things’ both in word and deed?  That is where we really learn, isn’t it - through both a woman’s LIPS as well as her LIVING?  

Here are FIVE beautiful ways to G.R.A.C.E. one another so that the Word of God is not blasphemed, our lives are fruitful, we are completely satisfied, and a lost and perishing world can’t help but notice the difference!

G - GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD YESHUA - 2 Peter 3:18

R - REMOVE THE OLD - Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 4:20-23;Colossians 3:8-9

A - ACCEPT THE NEW - Galatians 5:22-23

C - CONTINUE IN STEADFAST PRAYER for one another - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17; Philippians 1:18b-19; Acts 2:42

E - ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER to persevere and grow in the grace and knowledge of the LORD - Hebrews 10:24

 Father God, You are the One Who is able to bring ORDER and LIGHT from the chaos and darkness in our lives.  I thank You that You are faithful to do so and even now, Your Spirit is regenerating our lives from the inside out.  B'SHEM YESHUA ADONEINU!

For by Him, All Things Were Created - Colossians 1:16

'Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.' 

~ Hebrews 13:16

You Can Help

Checked out the Incarcerated Women’s Prayer Ministry lately?   

Thank you Judy Bratten for your great love for these women and your faithful commitment to intercede for them!

Thank you, Sweet Friend, for allowing us to be a part of seeing ADONAI move in their lives.  You are one to imitate.

Needing a Change?

From a distance ADONAI appeared to me, [saying,] "I love you with an everlasting love; this is why in My grace I draw you to Me. ~ Jeremiah 31:3

When my daughter Kierstyn was still in diapers just a few short years ago, she had a most peculiar way of letting me know she had taken care of her business.

She was in the habit of pushing me away from her every time she had ‘gone potty’ - that would be No. 2! Moms, you know the look and you are familiar with ‘all things poopy’, I am sure. (You might be interested to know that I had to add 'poopy' to my spell check.)

For the rest of this story, you just must join us at the Cafe...

How Zealous are You for the things of ADONAI?

Torah:  Numbers 25:10 - 30:1

Haftarah:  1 Kings 18:46 - 19:21

B’rit Chadashah:  Romans 11:2 - 32

הָאְנִק  - 'qana'

11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 Therefore say, "Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel."'  ~ Numbers 25:11-13

qana’ - Hebrew, a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) zealous, i.e. (in a bad sense) jealous or envious:--(be) envy(-ious), be (move to, provoke to) jealous(-y), X very, (be) zeal(-ous).

and it’s Greek equivalent...

zeo - Greek, a primary verb; to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest):--be fervent. (from which comes the extended word ‘zeal’)

“10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer,“ ~ Romans 12:10-12

‘Be aglow, and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.’ - AMP version

You may have noticed a strong connection between ‘zeal’ and ‘enthusiasm’.  To be zealous over the things of ADONAI is to be enthusiastic, and even jealous for those things, just as HE is with us...

"Thus says the LORD of hosts: "I am zealous [qana] for Zion with great zeal; With great fervor I am zealous for her.'  ~ Zechariah 8:2

“...(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous [Qanna], is a jealous [qanna] God),”  ~ Exodus 34:14

Therefore, one of the Names of God is El Qanna! [Jealous God]

Now, taking this one step further, we see the Greek word for  ‘enthusiasm’ is ‘entheos’ meaning ‘God within’.  Truly, to be ‘burning aglow, burning with spiritual fervor’ IS TO BE filled with His Spirit, producing fruit and zealous for building ADONAI’s Kingdom and not merely building our own ‘kingdoms’.

Pinchas (Phinehas) was a man whose righteous zeal indeed, caused him to ‘do things with all his might...as unto the LORD, and not unto men’ [Ecclesiastes 9:10; Ephesians 6:6-7].  

This zealous act was ‘done in faith’.  It was done because Phinehas fore mostly and chiefly believed ADONAI!  In other words, it was not the act itself that caused it to be ‘accredited to him as righteousness’ [as Psalm 106 reveals], it was Phinehas’ FAITH!  

And FAITH is nothing less than an ‘ACTIVE TRUST from a believing heart [pure conscience] that produces acts of righteousness in the ZEAL of ADONAI...ENTHEOS!

30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, And the plague was stopped. 31 And that was accounted to him for righteousness To all generations forevermore. ~ Psalm 106

Romans 14:23 cautions us that...

 “...whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]. “

Both Phinehas and Abraham were JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, not by their works. [Please Read Romans 4:1-8]

You see that we, too, are justified [made righteous] BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST JESUS.  And we also see that whatever ‘works’ we do that are not DONE IN FAITH is SIN [dead works]!  This is why the writer of Hebrews reveals yet another great TRUTH to us:

‘13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’ ~ Hebrews 9

Conclusion:  True zealous and righteous acts are works done IN FAITH, in union with the Mashiach, in the zeal of ADONAI.  These works will continue on and will be rewarded in the world to come [‘olam haba].  For Scripture declares:

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 

~ 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

• Do you have a real passion and zeal for the LORD, for the things of the LORD (as the LORD does}?
  
• Does it show in your work?
  
• What does this week’s Torah portion and extra drash reveal about your own heart?
  
• Have you asked the LORD to reveal to you what portion of your work is done IN FAITH (living works to be rewarded) and what work is done without faith (dead works to be burned = sin)?
  
• What does ‘be aglow, burning with the Spirit’ mean?
  
• How has The Word convicted and convinced your heart this week?
  
• What has ADONAI instructed that you do differently this week in your relationships?
  
• THE WORD can take you anywhere.  Where did the Ruach of ADONAI take you this week in your drash (study)?
  

Mriy!

1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is His,  and who is holy, and will bring him near to Him. The one whom He chooses He will bring near to Him. ~ Numbers 16:1-5

Mriy!

That’s the common thread running through this week’s parashah (Torah portion reading cycle). 

Mriy is the Hebrew word for ‘rebellion’.  Mriy means bitterness, disobedience, provocation, and rebellion.

It’s the exact opposite of honey that tastes sweet, pleasant and goes down smoothly.

Rebellion ALWAYS leads to some kind of division.  It divides the shalom known and realized in the UNITY of the Ruach. It grieves the Ruach of Elohim (Spirit of God).

Sowing discord among the brethren is one of the seven abominations that ADONAI hates, according to Proverbs 6:

16 There are six things that ADONAI hates,

seven that are an abomination to Him: 

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood, 

18 a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil, 

19 a false witness who breathes out lies,

and one who sows discord among brothers.

In 1 Samuel 15:23, the prophet Samuel filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, equates rebellion with the sin of divination/witchcraft!

witchcraft/rebellion: a way of attaining the desires of (your) evil, unbelieving heart through manipulation because you do not believe God has your best interests at heart.  Therefore, you must take up any means necessary to achieve the desires of your heart as you do not believe God is either able, willing, or both.

         1. Is this the means you use to get what you (think you) desire?  

2. Do you manipulate your spouse?  Your co-workers?  Your children?  

3. Has your heart been guilty of mriy in any form?

4. Have you asked ADONAI to examine your heart for any impure motives you may not be aware of? 

The wisdom of Scripture reveals to us that as we ‘Delight ourselves in ADONAI, He gives us the desire of our (transformed) hearts’! (Psalm 37:4)

To delight ourselves in ADONAI is to be one with ADONAI in perfect shalom and harmony according to His preparations.

ADONAI hates rebellion because it leads to discord.  And discord leads to division which is the opposite of yachad (unity).  When there is no yachad, there is no shalom.  ADONAI is One.  HE is perfect echad.  HE is never divided.  HE is perfect shalom.  Even His name is YHWH-SHALOM.  Shalom is what our Mashiach died to give to us.  

Scripture tells us to 'be at shalom as much as it depends upon us' (Romans 12:18) and that ‘a harvest of righteousness is raised in shalom by those who make shalom’ (James 3:18); and also that we are to ‘be eager to maintain the unity of the Ruach (Spirit) in the bond of shalom’ (Ephesians 4:3).

This is the kind of heavenly shalom that Yeshua said HE was giving to His disciples...

"What I am leaving with you is shalom -- I am giving you My shalom. I don't give the way the world gives. Don't let yourselves be upset or frightened.” ~ John 14:27

Go here for more about Korach in B'rit Chadashah (New Testament Reading with Torah)