Feminine Power, Pt. 1 - No. 150

Genesis 3:17 RSV, "And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you."

I wonder if you are aware of the influence you wield over your husband--for good or for bad. We have feminine power and charms that can subtly turn the hearts of our men.

Satan knows this and he makes the most of it! He used this knowledge to tempt the man in the very beginning. Satan knew that if he was to tempt Adam first, that Adam would have stood up for truth and told the serpent to get off! It was a different matter with Eve. She was more easily persuaded, but more than that, the serpent knew that she had the power to sway her husband.

Basically men want to please their wives. They want to make them happy, because that makes them happy. Just as women have a weakness to deception; men have a tendency to be influenced by their wives. This may not be obvious in their initial reactions and response to what we say, but in the end, our words and influence can determine their behavior and course of action. We can build up our marriage or we can destroy it. We hold this power. It is in our hands. No wonder Proverbs 14:1 says, "Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands."

We see the influence of women right through history. Through Marxist thinking, feminism and humanism, Satan has duped the minds of millions of women to turn away from their home and God's original plan for marriage and motherhood. But that is only the beginning. He has used them to seduce the men. We now have an epidemic of wimpiness--men who are afraid to lead their families in the ways of God; men who do not take up their responsibility to provide for their family; men who hand over the teaching and guidance of their children to the government or even the church. They have forgotten that they are patriarchs with the anointing to build a godly dynasty and take dominion for God. This has come about through the subtle influence of women.

Even King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, turned from the living God to serve idols because of the influence of his wives. We read about this in 1 Kings 11:1-11, "But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh (gave his heart to them): women from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.' Solomon clung to them in love... For it was so, when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods ; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David... Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Moloch the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives , who burned incense and scarified to their gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon..."

Do you see Solomon's weakness? This was a strong man, the leader of a nation; a wise man to whom people came from nations round about to receive wisdom; a man of vision and order, of whom the Queen of Sheba exclaimed, "the half has not been told"! And yet he was influenced for evil by women! I am sure it did not happen over night, but their continual subtle wiles wore him down until in the end, instead of pleasing God, he pleased his wives and made shrines for them to serve their foreign gods! We can cite many more examples. Samson was duped by Delilah. King Ahab became a wimp by seeking to please his wife Jezebel.

No man is exempt from the influence of a woman!

I find this scary! I am aware of my own influence as a wife. I am guilty of having influenced my husband negatively instead of in a righteous way. I find that I must walk in the fear of the Lord and be continually aware of my feminine, but powerful influence.

We must also remember that our influence is not only in the big things of life, but the little daily things. By our attitude and the words we speak we have the power to affect our husband's attitude to life, to his home and family, to his work and to the people in his life. If we speak negatively about family or people he is associated with he is likely to take up a negative attitude and speak and do things that will be detrimental. If we speak degrading and negative words to him personally, he will never rise to be the man God intends him to be.

As a woman we have power to make great men or little men.

In the same way, we influence our children, and ultimately the whole of society. In most cases, after each new king of Israel or Judah is introduced to us in the Bible, it gives the name of his mother and then immediately states whether her son did "that which was evil in the sight of the Lord" or whether he did "that which was right in the sight of the Lord." The influence of his mother not only determined the future of her son, but the outcome of the whole nation!

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Prayer:

"Lord, please help me to be aware of the feminine power you have given to me as a woman. Help me to influence my husband and children to righteousness, to love, to joy and to positivity. Save me from being a negative influence. Amen."

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