THE VISION:

Think back to the Old Testament patriarchs for a moment. Abraham. Moses. Joseph. The Lord had a vision for each of these great men of God, and others.

Let's take Joseph as our example.

Example: The Lord gave Joseph, as a young man, visions/dreams wherein wheat sheaves bowed down and worshiped him, representing his brothers worshiping him.

THE DEATH OF THAT VISION:

What exactly is the death of a vision? What does that even mean?

Example: His brothers sold Joseph into slavery, he went to a foreign country, certain never to see his family again.

THE RESTORATION OF THAT VISION:

Example: The Lord caused certain events to happen which resulted in Joseph's brothers bowing down in worship to him, and restored his family unto him.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?

The Lord may give us a vision, a promise, and we hang onto that promise for all we're worth, amen!? We stand on that promise of God and claim it, shout it from the housetops, and trust God to fulfill the vision. YES!

Then something comes along that just simply pulls the rug out from under us, and we lose that vision for a time....maybe lose nearly all hope. Farther on down the time line the Lord causes certain events to happen which bring about the fulfillment [restoration] of that vision....if we can just hang in there!

Some of us may want to walk out on our marriages. We no longer want to wait for the Lord to work things out, to fulfill the vision. Is that our job? We see someone in our congregation maybe who we just KNOW would be a great Christian husband! God even told us! And he's so sympathetic to our needs! And it feels SO right!

Or we know it would be better without them, we could get on with our lives, and live a fulfilled Christian life with another Christian, the kids will get over it!

But nothing could be further from the truth! It's nothing but lies straight from the pit of hell! ...from the enemy and destroyer of our soul! We are to stand! We are to stay! The Word of God says it is the UNBELIEVING spouse who may choose to leave....then we are not bound to him.

God never gave US that choice. That is the only way. But for that Scripture, I'd have been history way back in history! The alcoholism and verbal/emotional abuse were tremendously overwhelming at times. But the Lord kept reminding me that I HAD to stay, I did not have a choice.

Now, years ago the Lord gave me a promise that my husband would be saved....He just didn't say when. That is my vision. The death of that vision came when I had given up all hope that he would be saved....that there´s ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I - in myself - can do to effect my husband´s salvation. The restoration of that vision will be the day he receives Christ as his Saviour and Lord!

In WWAW, we have seen a husband wait until his deathbed to receive Christ! Are we prepared to face the fact that it may well be the same with our husbands? So, how do we live our lives, then?

Remember when Abraham was taking Isaac up to sacrifice him at the command of God? Isaac was Abraham's vision through which the mighty nation God had promised Abraham as his legacy would be forthcoming! Yet God was commanding Abraham to destroy the source of that future! In obedience, as Abraham placed his son on the altar and raised the knife to sacrifice him, his vision perished before his eyes. And the Scripture says..."BUT the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" ..... God...restoring the vision!

Can we place our vision on the altar, just as Abraham did when he laid Isaac upon the altar? Can we place our husband on that altar and give him to the Lord to deal with until his salvation is effected? We must! We MUST!

We must place our husband on that spiritual altar and walk away, leaving him in the very capable hands of Almighty God! God knows him better than our husband knows himself, and certainly better than we can ever possibly know him. God knows just what it will take to bring him to his knees in perfect surrender to Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Do we trust God enough to get that job done?

Or are we trying to force the salvation issue with him every so often? Are we pressuring him to go to church? Or are we quietly going about our lives, not assuming the responsibility of the Holy Spirit's work? You know, the phrase "won without a word" does not imply that we can never talk about God, or the things of God, or express the ecstasy of a blessing from God to our husbands. It merely implies that we are not pressuring our husbands with words constantly....how often do we pressure through our words?

I know the Word of God says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your whole household." and I'm not diminishing that! That is a promise of God. We need to walk out before our husbands, our trust (belief) in God in ALL things. It is by observing our walk, our calm trust in the Lord, when all else around us get rattled over situations, that will win these husbands to the Lord.

Men are ruled by actions. Women are ruled by words. What our husbands say to us can either wound us deeply, or they can put us on cloud 9! Not so with men! They want to see some action! What do they watch on TV? They watch things that have ACTION, girls! Sports! Every sport has an action! They want to see that ball MOVED from one end of the playing area to another! ACTION! They observe our ACTIONS! Are our actions calm, reassuring, loving, gentle, tender, caring, nurturing? Our home, our arms, must be a safe haven where he can come and feel calm, peaceful, protected, loved, cherished, wanted and needed. The world is hectic. He seeks a quiet place to rest.

We must ask ourselves: What will I do if he NEVER gets saved?

We just have to come to grips with that possibility. In fact, if we simply live the Christian walk before our families with that possibility in the back of our minds, not feeling that we must pressure them into serving God, we can be more relaxed and natural, not always - what I call - being on the jazz....always bringing up the Lord at EVERY turn! IF they ask, fine, but if they don't ....don't volunteer to orate on the exegisis of the.....you know what I mean! :-) (I'm speaking to myself here, too, ladies....I'm just as bad...always saying something like, "Well if you were serving the Lord...."....right?)

Someday, some way, after much observation time, the time will come when a loved one comes to you and asks, "How do you stay so calm?" Or, "How do you do it?" And you can simply say, "Because I have Jesus in my life." And let it drop. If they pursue the line of questions, fine, share what they can receive. Trust me they will come! They will reach a point in their life when nothing could help but God. Pray for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so you can keep your mouth shut when you need to, and not ramble on and on...you'll lose them. It kind of reminds me of something someone once told me about children questioning parents about sex. Only answer one question at a time - truthfully - but only one question at a time, as they cannot receive the whole packet of information at once, nor do they need or even want to.

We must remember that our husbands are free agents, they have a free will that the Creator gave to them to exercise. They may choose to accept Him or to reject Him. We must go on simply living our lives in Christ, not OBSESSED with our husband's salvation. It creates tension in the home, trying to FORCE such a sensitive issue. That is NOT our calling. Our calling is to hide the vision in our heart, ponder it, and very simply walk out our lives as Christian women ... women of God....a living epistle, read of all men...especially our husbands. It is our ACTIONS which will lead the way to Christ:

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good words.......? NO........ that they may see your good WORKS and give glory to God." ACTIONS = WORKS. ...that they may see your good ACTIONS...and give glory to God.

We must show our husbands NOT our good words, but our good (Christian) ACTIONS (fruit of the Spirit)....day after day, week after week, year after year...consistently, faithfully...LOVE in ACTION.....without a word.