If you’ve been praying for a husband and haven’t met him yet, don’t get discouraged. God hears your prayers. He desires us to partner with a good man more than we desire it for ourselves. Our Heavenly Father is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is good all the time. He is not like us. He doesn’t change His mind about things, and He always keeps His commitments. He said in Malachi 3:6(NLT), “I am the LORD, and I do not change.” Human beings vacillate all the time with keeping their word and their commitments, but God never does. He promises to take care of our needs, and He always keeps His promises.
Ephesians 2:10(NLT) says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Long before we entered our mother’s wombs, God had a plan for our individual lives. Not only does He have a plan for our lives, but He is 100% committed to it. He planned what He wanted to do for us long ago, and once He decides something, He doesn’t back away from it ever. He desires to see us blessed and walking in the fullness of Christ, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Heavenly Father said in Revelation 1:8(NLT), “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”” At the very beginning of His plan, our powerful God already knew exactly how things would end up. He knows the end at the beginning, and He knows the beginning at the end. Nothing escapes Him. He knows the habit patterns and attitudes that we have right now, and He knows how those habit patterns and attitudes could possibly jeopardize or end our future marriages. This is one of the reasons we must get rid of them.
God’s standard cannot be overlooked. His ultimate goal for us is that we become the very image of Christ. This is what is most important to God. He tells us in Ephesians 4:22-24(NLT), “22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” The truth is that there may be some things Heavenly Father wants you to clean up before you meet the treasure that He has for you. There may be some negative things you need to put off, and there are Christ-like attributes of your new nature that you must put on. No one, absolutely no one, escapes this process of spiritual growth.
Spouses are a blessing, but they are also a ministry and a huge responsibility. We must learn to prioritize and take care of our requirements to God, because this is what prepares us for the ministry of being a wife. We’ll have to strike a balance that is only achieved by our obedience to God in Christ. So, it will require that in our own lives, we have demonstrated a habit pattern of putting God first, and not placing our needs or the man’s needs ahead of God’s requirements. If we have not learned to put God first, now is an excellent time to seek His guidance, and He will teach us how to do this through the Holy Spirit.
Renewing our minds to the Word and putting on our new nature that is created in Christ Jesus takes time, and at first, we may have to endure a bit of discomfort. Our new nature in Christ is one where we must put the needs of our spouse before our own. For instance, perhaps you’re used to putting together a sandwich or something simple to eat after a long day at work. How flexible would you be if after a long day, your spouse asked you for a full-course meal? Would you be offended that he didn’t cook it himself or that he placed this expectation on you? All of us have our opinions, but our humility must be to hear and do what God says. His opinion is the only one that matters.
In Ephesians 5:23-26(NLT), God tells us His standard for marriage, “For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.” For as long as there are marital unions between men and women, God’s standard will not change. We must be humble to Heavenly Father, and we must be humble before our spouses. God’s standard equals the treasures He gives. He will bless us with someone deserving of all we have to give when we’re in the right place in our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Meeting God’s Requirements and Preparing for the Ministry of Being a Wife”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.