Meditation Monday - Respect

As I have mentioned on my blog before, René my husband, and I have written a book about our marriage and how God has formed us to understand what a Marriage Covenant is through His Word and our experiences over the last twenty years.

For me, it is a little over two years now that I received a life-changing revelation from the Holy Spirit through which I actually saw the state of my own heart and did something about it!
The result was that it changed my husband too... for the better. Since then we have discovered how the blessing of God has somehow taken over our lifes as each of us take in our place and fulfill our God-given roles, as God created them!

René has done intense study on this subject in the Bible, Old and New testament for many years now - his discoveries have been amazing, deep and liberating!!

I thought I would share an extract of our book! It is part of my section about the woman's role. My next share on this subject will be an extract from René's side - to keep it in balance.....

Quote:

A book I received as a wedding present called 'The Total Woman' by Marabel Morgan helped me further in my search for intimacy in my marriage. It gave me several keys to a better understanding and adaptation to my husband. One of them was 'respect', and I realized I had never made this an issue. It is something to be worked on daily! The Bible says in Eph. 5:33 (Amplified version): ''and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband (that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him and loves and admires him exceedingly)." I had never taken that seriously or meditated over it! I often had the attitude 'he needs to deserve it first'! I also heard a lot of people say, "respect has to be earned" which I just swallowed without thinking what God thought about it! Actually I believe the Holy Spirit showed me that the Bible asks me to give it to my husband by faith, opening the door for him to act upon it. If I do not give, he cannot receive. But what is respect? Well, to give an example, how would you act if the president of the United States came to visit you? Think about how you would behave. Wouldn’t you show respect and do your best to say the right words and to pay attention to your manners? I believe God asks us to have this kind of respect towards our husbands, just as we should have this kind of respect towards Him! I practice these things now and I have to say that the Lord then deliberately chooses to bless me, and a lot of times through my husband. Because I give these things attention I have seen that René has a sparkle in his eye and a sense of well-being! Because his needs are met he can meet God's needs for the Kingdom, and he is open to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit and hear God's voice.

Unquote

Something to meditate on??

Jacqueline