GRACE - THE MISSING PART OF MARRIAGE:

"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered". 1 Peter 3:7

According to the above verse, any husband who does not give HONOUR to his wife by cherishing her, understanding her and loving her as Christ love the Church, his prayers will be HINDER. Once your prayers are hindered, it means you will start struggling in every area of your life and business. 

We are saved by GRACE and live by GRACE. Here, Apostle Peter says, you and your wife are joint-heirs of the GRACE OF LIFE. The word "grace"is define as "the ability of God to take over our weakness and make things easy on our behalf". The woman is said to be a "weaker vessel". It will take the GRACE OF LIFE to cohabit with her. And what will affect the release of the grace is lack of treating the woman with understanding.

For wives, the biblical terms for “unhindered prayer” are to: …be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives… (1 Peter 3:1)

“Submission” can be a scary word because it’s been so often extrapolated to the point of legalistic destructiveness and bondage. The fact is, submission can only be given; it cannot be demanded. The biblical term for submission is always dependent upon a response of will on the part of the individual being called to it. Be clear that the Bible does not say God intended women to be submitted to men. It says that a wife is to be submitted to her husband. Submission is not the reduction of either a wife’s personal fulfillment or realization of her own potential. It has to do with her acceptance and support of the husband’s place in the divine creative order to provide leadership in their lives together.

 

For a couple to become “heirs together,” it also takes an understanding, sensitive, and responsible husband who does not interpret “submission” to mean he has the privilege of being a tyrant, or to think that he has been made superior. It means he has been given the responsibility to be devoted to his wife’s interests and well being, and to lead them both to the fullest possibilities of their union: "...giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel".

The words “weaker vessel” are speaking about the woman’s physical and emotional vulnerability, but it is not a condescending description. The nature of a woman tends to be more emotionally vulnerable, yet that doesn’t make her less intelligent. Quite the contrary, she may be incredibly more sensitive than the man. 

The prayers of husbands and wives are hindered by either one of them not being sensitive to these biblical characteristics. If the husband is not honoring of his wife, or if he is not sensitive and compassionate toward the pressures and demands on her as one who is physiologically and sometimes emotionally more vulnerable than he is, that insensitivity can block the possibility of their being heirs and receiving the inheritance God has for them. It can also obstruct a couple’s successful resistance to satanic attack on their marriage and their children. The same is true if the wife is insensitive to her husband. It is not up to a wife to judge whether her husband is worthy enough to submit to. When great women whose husbands aren’t that great as leaders truly submit to them, they make their husbands into far greater men.

When we look at the marriage partnership, however, Scripture tells us that husbands and wives are heirs together to a dimension of dominion especially given to them. It goes back to God’s creative order in which He decreed as an inheritance three things: That husband and wife would (1) be fruitful, (2) multiply, and (3) have dominion (Gen. 1:28). This is a broad dimensions of what God has given to married couples as “heirs together of the grace of life.” And the way that inheritance is released is through prayer that is “unhindered”—that nothing is obstructing the married couple’s unity.

How might a husband and wife’s prayers be hindered? By either one not being responsive to the characteristics outlined in Scripture. 

When a marriage is missing grace the entire disposition of the relationship changes. Little things cause big fights. Motives are constantly questioned. Tempers are short and often lost. Assumptions are always made. Conclusions are frequently jumped to. Husbands and wives consistently lead with anger. The past is always brought up and the score is always kept.

A lack of grace will cause a husband to be furious with his wife for any simple mistake. A lack of grace will cause a wife to notice all that her husband does wrong and not see all he does right. It is easy to give grace to others and refuse to give it to your spouse. You can’t show grace to someone you are trying to make pay. If you want to see change and improvement in your marriage, take a few minutes this week to think about how messed up and imperfect you are…and how God loves you anyway. That is grace.

So many couples try to correct their behavior or change their communication patterns, but without grace those changes are temporary and exhausting. Grace is the starting point from which all change is made.

When you connect your heart to the grace of God, it becomes much easier to dispense that grace to the person you love the most.

PRAYING TOGETHER

Today we are witnessing the dissolving of one Christian home after another and stress that tears at the marriages of believers, just as it does those of the world. A blitz has hit the Body of Christ in its marriages and families as at no other time in the history of the Church. And we wonder, Why?

Satan understands the powerful inheritance granted to married believers. Because husbands and wives are the greatest threat to the success of his last days’ enterprise, the Adversary has launched a preemptive strike against Christian marriages. But remember, wherever sin abounds, grace much more abounds (see Rom. 5:20). Countering that specific assault from hell is a unique endowment of the Holy Spirit for husbands and wives.

Whether we are single or married, Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Added to that, the Bible gives evidence that by reason of their unity there is a unique and awesome power in the prayers of a married couple. The call to each of us—single or married—is to learn the place we are given, accept the privilege and responsibility we’ve been called to, and answer to the opportune moment that is ours.