We have to admit that our nation was born out of rebellion,
and it has been part of our national psyche ever since. This spirit of rebellion affects every area
of our society, but its most devastating impact has been on the family. To destroy the nation, Satan must destroy the
family, and he is doing just that through a spirit of rebellion.
A rebellious spirit
opens the door of the heart to Satan’s influence, as it did in the life of King
Saul. Once Saul rebelled against God’s
orders given through the prophet Samuel, Satan and his demons began to torment
Saul and prompt him to do more evil. At
last, when Saul could no longer receive counsel from God, he turned to a witch
for help.
Why does rebellion open the door to Satan? Because Lucifer, Son of the Morning (Isaiah 14:12), rebelled
against God and thus became the fallen, despicable creature who seeks to
destroy all God has made. He sniffs out
the rebellious spirit wherever it may be found.
Every family is vulnerable when there is even one member who has a
rebellious spirit.
The biblical shield against this attack of Satan is the
virtue of submission. In
Ephesians 5 and 6 God, through the Apostle Paul, admonishes each member of the
family to practice this virtue. It is
well to note that with each admonition to “submit” or “obey,” there is a
corresponding admonition to the one God has entrusted with authority to submit
to the Lord in practicing kindly, loving care for those under that
authority. Hence, when God says, “Wives
submit to your own husbands as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22), the husbands are
admonished to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave
Himself for her . . .” (Ephesians 5:25-26a).
When God says, “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right” (Ephesians 6:1), he also says, “And you fathers, do not provoke your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord”
(Ephesians 6:4).
We must be careful here, and note that Satan will try to
corrupt our thinking regarding these verses:
One admonition is not conditional
on the other. The wife’s
submission to her husband does not depend upon the husband's obedience to the
Lord in sacrificial love for his wife, nor is the husband’s obligation to love
his wife as Christ loved the Church dependent upon the wife’s submission. Likewise the children's obligation to obey and the parent's obligation to properly train, depend upon only one thing -- their relationship to the Lord. Each member of the family
is to be submissive to the Lord, obeying His directions for their God-given position in the family, regardless
of what the other members may do.
Jesus, the Son of God Himself, is the model of a submissive
spirit. Every family member should meditate
on Philippians 2:5-8 frequently:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal
with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV)
