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SARAH'S DAUGHTERS

1 Peter 3:1-6

In the same way, wives, submit to your husbands; so that even if some of them do not believe the Word, they will be won over by your conduct, without your saying anything, as they see your respectful and pure behaviour. Your beauty should not consist in externals such as fancy hairstyles, gold jewelry or what you wear; rather, let it be the inner character of your heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. In G-d's sight this is of great value. This is how the holy women of the past who put their hope in Adonai used to adorn themselves and submit to their husbands, the way Sarah obeyed Avraham, honoring him as her lord.
You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not succumb to fear.

I found out something very interesting recently. In Hebrew, Sarah's name means "princess". That means Avraham called his wife Sarah, Princess. Likewise, Sarah called Avraham, her "lord". Both showing love and honor to the other. We won't be addressing the man's role in our study today, but we'll be concentrating on our unique and wonderful role as wives. Sarah has left us an example of how to be a godly, submissive wife. Sarah is the mother of all believing women just as Avraham is considered the father of godly men. We are considered her daughters *if* we exhibit the same qualities as Sarah. We'll take a closer look at those qualities in a moment.

I'd like to go over some foundational basics for who we are first.
Let's turn to Genesis, Chapter 2, starting with verse 22 where we read:

"He made the rib, which the LORD God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Ladies, we are not men, nor should we strive to be like a man ~ this means we are not to wear men's clothing; make the final decisions about child-rearing, money; cutting our hair short like a man, etc. The verses above tell us that:

1) I am a woman.
2) I am a woman created by Elohim.
3) Elohim brought us to man and we are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. We are to be his helper, not the leader.

We are women created in the image of G-d but we have distinctly different roles from the man. As a woman, we have a wonderfully designed role to fulfill dear ones! That role, as given to us by our Creator, is to be a help meet to *your* husband (if you are a married woman), and the man is to be the head of the wife.

We learn this by reading 1 Cor. chapter 11, verse 3:

"But I would have you know that the head of every man is Messiah,
and the head of the woman is the man,
and the head of Messiah is God."

We can see that each of us has a head. As married women, our head is our husband, our husband's head is Messiah Yeshua, and Yeshua's head is G-d. This is the proper order of authority as given by Abba, sister. We simply cannot have TWO heads in our home (husband AND wife) and expect to have a good, solid marriage relationship, or a good relationship with our Messiah. We were each created by G-d to fulfill a particular role.

WORLDLY PHILOSOPHIES

Ladies, many of us have been so subtly indoctrinated with a feminist mindset (myself included as I'm a child of the 60-70's). We have been taken captive by the worldly philosophy that says we are missing out on something if we stay at home, submit to our husbands authority over us, dress modestly, raise our own children, teach our own children, and on and on. As a result, we oftentimes can feel guilt and confusion. Have you experienced guilt if you want to be a stay at home Mother and keeper of the home? Or do you encounter resistance from others when you express a desire to quit your job to be a homemaker, raise your family, or homeschool your children?

We are warned in Chapter Two of Colossions to be careful that we don't let anyone rob us through worldly philosophies and vain deceits, after the traditions of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Messiah.

There is no guilt when we are obeying Adonai and submitting to His design and plan for our lives beloved. In fact, it will bring freedom and joy. It's not easy to unlearn what we have been taught, but with Messiah this is certainly do-able!! *smile*

SUBMISSION

So far we've learned that we are women uniquely designed by G-d, and that we have a very important role to fulfill. Additionally, we briefly looked at how we may have been subtly influenced in our modern world by the feminist movement to turn our backs on this role. Learning to be a daughter of Sarah is learning how to submit. Let's talk about this.

1 Peter 3 says,

In the same way, wives, submit to your husbands; so that even if some of them do not believe the Word, they will be won over by your conduct, without your saying anything, as they see your respectful and pure behavior.

Notice that our verse begins with "In the same way..." The same way as what? Peter is writing to fellow beleivers. He addresses us in Chapter 1, verse 1 , "To God's elect......who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.......for obedience unto Messiah Yeshua...." These words are written to you and I dear sister. We are the elect and have been chosen for obedience. Chapter 2 goes on to explain submission in relation to slaves towards their masters, and that we are to submit ourselves to every authority, etc. Then in Chapter 3, Peter starts by saying, "In the same way, wives, submit to your husbands......"

We are to submit to our husbands ~ yes even our non-believing husbands, or our husbands when we might feel they are not hearing correctly from the L-rd. Yes, you heard me right. We are to submit to our husbands, whether they be believers, whether they are currently leading you spiritually or not. Why, you might ask? So that when they see our chaste, pure behavior, then perhaps they will have a receptive ear to hearing more about Yeshua. And the best reasons of all is ~ because G-d says so, beloved.

I can almost hear you asking yourself, "How can I possibly submit when I know what my husband is deciding does not line up with what Father is showing me from His Word!? Help!"

Let me share some real life examples with you that will help illustrate this concept. About 7 or 8 years ago I had my husband's support in starting a little cottage business from our home. I found a little consignment shoppe that was interested in selling my dried floral arrangements, and I was SO excited! But my husband did not share my enthusiasm for this particular shoppe. Well, that bugged me! Why couldn't he just support me in this!? I had prayed about it and felt confirmation from the L-rd that this was the right thing to do. I listened to him, we prayed together and he still felt a strong check in his spirit about this. Now, I will tell you my husband was a brand new believer at that time, and I was pretty new at this submitting *stuff*, haha, but I decided to submit to the L-rd through my husband, even though I truly felt my husband was not hearing right! HAHA Well, this shoppe just closed its doors and disappeared a couple of weeks later! And they took the entire inventory in that store with them! G-d protected me AND taught me a valuable lesson early in my walk.

Here's another example for you from my sister in the L-rd....

I want to relate a story about our lives too, Last year I interviewed for a job that I really wanted, however; the guy doing the hiring wanted me to work as a subcontractor instead of an employee. I really liked the man who interviewed me and what it was that he was trying to accomplish. Bob was vehemently opposed to me taking this job, despite the good money, the use of my talents, and wonderful hours. I submitted to Bob's lead on this issue and what a great thing it turned out to be, I would have been left out in the cold by this guy (soon after he went bankrupt) with no unemployment, etc. Sometimes regardless of how our husband's spiritual state appears to us, Abba is still working through them.

Submit means to obey which means to yield, comply, do the bidding of our husbands as unto Adonai. This is a key point. It's NOT a matter of our husbands deserving to lead, or whether we think they are capable of leading, or believing that we can do a much better job of leading than they can. It's all about submitting to Abba. It is in this way that we allow G-d to work through our husbands. The L-rd will lead us as a couple, through the husband, not the other way around!

We submit to our husbands out of love for our L-rd dear one. When we CHOOSE not to submit however, we are choosing not to submit to our Creator and are therefore in rebellion. The Bible tells us that rebellion is as witchcraft and idolotry! The desire to control is the foundation of rebellion dear heart and that is the bottom line.

We need to TRUST that Abba is working through our husbands dear one. And the Word does not say if your husband is a believer you are to submit. Or if he's being the spiritual leader in the home, you are to submit. No, G-d says, "wives, submit to your husbands.." It's great when a husband and wife can reach an agreement together. It's easy to submit then isn't it?! BUT when we cannot agree on decisions, we must submit, allowing the husbands to be the head and make the final decisions. Right or wrong, G-d is bigger and He will work through our husbands. He is big enough to right any mistakes that may be made along the way. Ladies, this is true submission and you will be blessed!

If you are like me and feel a conviction in your spirit about what I've shared so far with you today, take time dear heart to do three things:

-- Confess it as sin before the L-rd
--Confess that you have been wrong to your husband (and then your children, if applicable)
--Submit your will to line up with the Word of G-d

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