Last Call:(This Weeks) "BOB COY Devotionals"
The Last Call Devotions Network
"Legacy"
Legacy Posts will be presented in Weekly Formats
Begining in May and starting ASAP posts as part of our "Legacy Series" will be posted on Monday AM for the Week. Some of the Classics will post a Sun-Sat; others will be Mon-Fri. This "note" or one similar to it will proceed all Last Call posts for the remainder of this year; 2011. The benefit to the reader is to have a "weeks" worth of Devotions to Read.
As a "free ministry" the Network has exapnded globally and this is a adjustment to grow with that need. The "Current" Series of Devotions will begin to follow the same format. It is likely that many in the "Current" series will be on a One week delay. Any comments or questions please write: lastcalldevotionalnetwork@gmail.com
This Weeks
Bob Coy Devotionals
Devotionals For
Monday thru Friday
March 28th-April 1
Devotional For
Monday
March 28
Devotionals by Active Word
Let's get specific
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Ephesians 5:22 (NKJV)
Paul now moves from the general to the specific. He goes from the general command for everyone to submit to God, to the specific command for wives to submit to their husbands.
The word here for "submit" is an interesting Greek word; it's the compound word hupotasso, which is a combination of the two wordshupo, meaning under, and tasso, meaning order. It conveys the idea of putting something in an orderly fashion under something else. There's no arm-twisting here; it's a voluntary and agreeable act of coming under the authority of another, which is what wives are called to do in relation to their husbands. Wives are to place themselves under their husbands' authority in an orderly manner.
But… That's often the first reaction in a wife's heart when confronted with this. Why is that? Most often it is because their mind is drawn towards their husbands. Do you have any idea who you're telling me to submit to? However, that's not the direction the Lord wants us to take.
Remember the context for this command. It comes after the general command to submit to God, so first and foremost, it's a matter of obeying and trusting Him. And it's a powerful demonstration of trust when a wife does submit to her husband, because she's essentially declaring, "Lord, I am trusting that You will be the One to ultimately cover and take care of me as I choose to bring myself under my husband's authority, because I'm really obeying You."
That's the important thing for wives to remember. If their degree of trust simply extends to the character of their husbands, they'll have plenty of motivation not to submit. But it's way bigger than that; submitting to a husband is an investment of faith in God, faith that He knows best and has ordained this order because it's good for her individually and good for her marriage.
Think about it…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
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Devotional For
Tuesday
March 29
Devotionals by Active Word
A double obedience
For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church… Ephesians 5:23 (NKJV)
Yesterday we saw the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, present God's divine action plan for wives. That action plan is to willingly submit themselves under the authority of their husbands.
Being a master teacher, Paul would often follow up a straightforward exhortation like this with an illustration to help make his point stick in the minds of his audience. He does so here by linking the call for wives to submit to their husbands with our call, as Christians, to submit to Christ.
It's a powerful parallel because it touches on this truth: Just as Jesus is the head, or leader of the Church, so too the husband is the head of the marriage union. Why does the husband get to be the head? Why is he the leader? Because that's the way God wanted it. He could have created woman first, but He didn't. In His sovereign providence, God created the man first.
Man led the way in creation and God ordained that he should also be the leader in life. That's not man striving for supremacy over the woman. And it's not some sort of power struggle where man came out on top. That's just the way the Lord determined it to be…man is to be the head, the leader. And where there is a leader there must also be a follower.
Just as Jesus is the leader that we follow, the husband is to be the leader that the wife is to follow. Think through what an incredible statement that is. God compares a Christian following Christ, to a wife following her husband. The Lord honors both forms of following, because both honor an order that's been established by Him.
A double obedience exists here for wives, for by following their husband's lead, they're also following after Christ.
Think about it…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
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Devotional For
Wednesday
March 30
Keep it straight Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:24 (NKJV) Before we leave this point of wives submitting to their husbands, there's something else we need to address lest there be any confusion going forward. We live in a fallen world, a world that doesn't function the way our Father originally intended, a world that is suffering the scourge of sin, a world where the principle of submission has been twisted and pulled in a direction God never intended. This happens when people take this passage and try to apply it to non-marital relationships. Don't miss what the Word actually says. "So let the wives be [subject] to their own husbands." This poignant picture of our trust in Christ, this precious gift of submission, is to be expressed and exchanged within the context of marriage and not outside of it. Obviously, there will be situations where it's necessary for a wife to submit to people other than her husband: to an employer (Colossians 3:22), to civil authorities (1 Peter 2:13), and to spiritual leadership (Hebrews 13:17). But these God-ordained relationships aren't going against the principle that Paul puts forth here. The point here is that a woman isn't called to submit herself to the whims of any man simply because he's a man and she's a woman. That's not true biblical submission. In order for submission to retain it's true power and beauty, in order for it to remain a reflection of our relationship with Jesus, its proper place needs to be kept straight. It needs to be recognized as something specifically and uniquely reserved for those who have entered into the sacred bond of marriage. Then, and only then, will submission assume its proper place in our minds. And when it possesses its proper place in our minds, it will then occupy its proper place in our marriages. Think about it… What does this passage reveal to me about God? Devotionals by Active Word
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
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Devotional For
Thursday
March 31
Devotionals by Active Word
A love like His
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her… Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV)
Paul is painting a picture for us here in the book of Ephesians that likens Christ's connection to His Church to a husband's connection to his wife. But the picture is only half-complete; he has to fill in the remaining responsibilities of the husband, which he does by commanding them to love their wives "just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her."
God expects husbands to love their wives with same love that Christ has for His Church. So what exactly does that look like? Candy for Valentines Day? Flowers on your anniversary? Dinner and a movie every Friday night? Those are loving acts, but God calls husbands to a loving attitude—a lifestyle that resembles Christ's love in three specific ways.
First, husbands are to love their wives sacrificially. See how Paul even adds the tag that Jesus "gave Himself" for the Church, underscoring the fact that He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Christ lived for us, and husbands are called to do the same for their wives.
Secondly, husbands need to love practically. The Lord's love wasn't theoretical in nature. He didn't merely wax eloquently about loving us. Jesus actually got His hands dirty. He did something that was tangible which met our actual needs.
Thirdly, husbands are to love their wives unconditionally. Christ Jesus didn't sit around and wait for us to become lovable before He loved us. His love came first. Sometimes a couple will be at a stalemate in their relationship because he won't love her and she won't submit to him. So who makes the first move? Who made the first move in our relationship with God? Romans 5:8 says Jesus died for us while we were still sinning.
That's not to excuse wives from submitting, but it shows husbands that there's no excuse for a stalemate in their marriage…and there won't be if they love their wives as Christ loves us.
Think about it…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
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Devotional For
Friday
April 1
Devotionals by Active Word
No-lose situation
That He might sanctify and cleanse her… Ephesians 5:26 (NKJV)
We're in the middle of Paul identifying the husband's role and responsibilities in marriage. He's to assume the same role that Christ did with us, loving his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. That's not all, though. Paul goes on to share that Jesus did much more than this:
That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:26-27 (NKJV)
Follow the flow of thought here. Christ's love for the Church didn't just lead Him to die for us. It didn't end at the cross. No, it led Him to purify and wash us with the water of God's Word so that we could become clean, so that we could grow in godliness and become more holy and less worldly.
In the same way, a husband has a responsibility towards his wife. He can never cleanse her the same way Christ has cleansed us. But he does have the scriptures at his disposal, and he can have a cleansing effect on her heart by spiritually washing her with the Word. He can help her grow in godliness and become more holy and less worldly.
"Sounds like an awfully big responsibility…how often do I need to do this?" Well, how often do you need to be cleansed by God's Word? Here's what a husband needs to realize: By loving his wife like Christ, by washing her in His Word, he's never making a sacrifice that truly hurts him…because his wife is only going to grow more spiritual and lovable in the end.
It's a true no-lose situation whenever a husband takes the time to do for his wife what the Lord does for him.
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3 (NKJV)
Think about it…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
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