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It is a beautiful sunny day in Central New York! The snow is still deep as it has snowed most days this week – just hasn’t snowed today. It is good to have sunshine. It is even better to have Son-shine inside – that’s the best kind. He is always our Light!
Blessings!

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:21-22 KJV This passage is deeply misunderstood. First of all, in the Greek, the word “submit” does not appear in the second statement. It is something like, “…wives also to their husbands.” It is not a separate sentence, nor command. It is a continuation of a thought the apostle Paul was expressing.

A group of people cannot work or live in a harmonious way unless there is submission to some sort of leadership. But the admonition here is for ALL to live in an attitude of submission to one another. When this occurs, there is joy in the doing – whatever it is.

We have already covered that submission is a heart matter. Unless the heart is saying “yes” then the action is not submission – obedience, maybe, but not submission. So as we lean into the Lord, everyone’s heart is trained to be submitted to everyone. This creates an attitude of trust and willingness.

The person in leadership that does not submit to anyone is a very dangerous person, no matter what the title may be in front of the name. Submission in walking in Jesus is voluntary – but not optional. That is a strange understanding to have. It is the training of the Holy Spirit in the heart – male or female. Submission applies to ALL!

Our Friday Fellowship was a precious time in our Lord’s presence. It was well attended with some new folk as well. The Lord gave us delightful, anointed worship and then my lesson was on “In His Image.” We studied some of the ways we can begin to express our life in Christ that reflect this New Covenant and this “imaging” that the Father in Christ has done and is doing in us. We worked with learning to think and speak the accomplished work instead of what is yet to be done; to count on the identity we have in Christ instead of the identity of flesh; to expect the promises to be true and to live in the light of that fact; on and on. It was well received and we all need to learn to think, speak and live truth from the Word instead of the various forms of “religious” thinking, speaking and feeling that are everywhere. (For instance – the confession of being a sinner, when those born again in the Scriptures are never called sinners, but “holy ones,” or the old KJV – “saints.”) These are just little ways of thinking and speaking that lead us to live much less than the reality of the truth that has been paid for. The payment of the blood of Jesus was awesome – we want to learn to live in its truth. The CD or DVD is available through the office, and it will be on our web site as soon as I get the processed tape. That takes a bit of time.

Just a short reminder that tonight at 7 is our first Friday Fellowship of the new year. Hope you are planning to be with us at the Bible Learning Center. Oh yes, it is still snowing, but ever so lightly and should not get in our way at all tonight. Lauren will lead the worship ensemble and I will be preaching. See you then.

Oh yes, if you normally listen on the web, it will be there, but not for a couple of weeks as my volunteer who does the technical re-formating of the recording so it can go on the web, is out of town for a week. So sorry. But hang in there, it will be coming.

All events are available by CD and DVD also for a small price. Contact the office if you would like one of these. 315-396-0129

It continues to snow here. It is very beautiful, cold but lovely. We are out and about like normal as this type and amount of snow will not keep us in. There are storms in some years that keep us house-bound for a day or so, but never more than that.

The big difference between here and parts south is that we are accustomed to snow and our road crews etc… handle it very well. I am grateful for both – the snow and the road crews.

Don’t forget about Friday night Fellowship at Psalm 19 tomorrow evening for all nearby. We always have a wonderful time in the Lord’s presence.

I have just published a “Memory Slideshow” for the Fall Conference 2010. You can see the show here:  http://www.psalm19ministries.org/psalm19ministries/Slide_Shows.html

I will be posting here very soon. Much has occurred and I am full with “stuff” that needs to be shared. So plan on revisiting soon.

I have not forgotten my blog, nor my blogging friends. I have several ideas churning in the prayer closet for the continuance of this “Submission” theme, because it is very important in our spiritual lives.

However, today, I just want to refer you to my web site where I have placed our video of our Psalm 19 Christmas Celebration. I think you will enjoy the lesson the Lord gave. http://www.psalm19ministries.org/psalm19ministries/Videos.html

I will be back in a day or so.

My last teaching in the “possess The Land” series is now up on our web site. It is Faith’s Response. For those of you who have chosen to follow – Enjoy. If you have yet to watch -give it a go – you will be glad you did.  Go to:

http://www.psalm19ministries.org/psalm19ministries/Videos.html

More on the “submission” topic soon. Right now I am preparing for a trip to Hamilton, Ont., Canada for a week-end of ministry at the Joshua Center. Prayers are so appreciated. Lauren is driving and will be leading some worship.

I have just read an excellent post at http://betterexegesis.blogspot.com/ and I urge all who are interested in the Greek rendering of the difference between “submission” and “obedience” to go there and read. I will not attempt such an analysis here.

Submission is an attitude of the heart that simply wants the will of another person. Obedience is the action that will follow when submission is in place. As such, submission is a gift you choose to give and only you can choose to do so. Obedience can and at times is a requirement that others can demand. Submission, on the other hand, is an attitude of heart that each person can choose to give to another. It is commanded in the New Testament as a requirement for the church to live in harmony, and for the marriage to be successful in Christ.

However, if the husband does not hear Ephesians 5:21 and understand that this attitude is required of him in reference to others, and he then attempts to demand it from his wife, there will be war. However, if it is lovingly taught and encouraged by mutual submission first, then it is a joy to watch it flow and increase the love and obedience in Christ between us.

Much of the “Christian” teaching we have experienced about marriage has encouraged a “Lordship” attitude from the husband. This same attitude is condemned by the Lord in reference to the way Christian leaders are to work in reference to the church. (Mark 10:41-45) So if we violate one passage to confirm our view of another one, something is terribly wrong.

The submission data must be heard by all so all will have opportunity to respond to the Lord in this attitude, and to respond to others in through this empowerment. I say “empowered,” because I believe only the Lord can work this inside us. Rebellion is so much a part of us that we often do not even recognize it. All of us must be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out the reality of the holiness, through submission, that the Lord has imparted and invested into us.

More later.

It has occurred to me that many do not understand the difference between submission and obedience. We obey (often with gritted teeth and an angry interior) and think we are being submissive. As a woman often haunted by the “submission” necessity in marriage and often carried into the church, I have wrestled with this and the scriptures for many years.

Many years ago, another Bible teacher whose name is Janice Wise, taught that “submission” and “obedience” were two separate items. As I pondered this, it became a beacon of light into the Scriptures and into my Lord’s empowerment in my life. I praise Him for giving her that revelation and it has become an ever deepening revelation inside me.

I find that most of the time, we regard them as synonymous. This causes much condemnation and anxiety in hearts as we search for areas of disobedience to correct them. All the while, the problem with disobedience is not the action so much as the heart behind the action.

Let me explain. Submission is commanded for all Christians. “…submitting to one another in the fear of God.” (Eph. 5:21). (By the way, the next verse is not separate in content from this one as in the Greek the word “submission” is not written, but referred to only as connected to this verse. More on that in another post). Submission is for all who belong to our Lord Jesus. It is not action, but rather the deep heart motivation for the action. Submission implies that I am regarding another’s will above my own. If I do the action, but disregard the will, there is no submission. So submission is the work of and with the Holy Spirit in our closet of fellowship with the Lord.

Obedience is seldom the problem. Disobedience stems from a core  that we label rebellion. That is because the heart has not accepted another will, but is insisting (inside) on its own. All of us live here – some more than others. I am very grateful for totally forgiveness and lavished grace as I live in my Lord and discover the areas in my heart that remain “upright” instead of bowed to Him and therefore to others.

Submission is a freedom word and is often the “eye of the needle” where we are invited to enter and find an openness, wideness and  freedom in the Spirit we have longed for instead of constriction and condemnation.

More later.