Before you can ever submit to anyone or anything else, you must first learn how to submit to God. If you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that you have a tendency to get haughty when those in authority try to tell you something.
At that time you may think, "Who the heck are you to tell me what to do? You're not the boss of me!" Often your back stiffens and you may utter a few snide comments or negative remarks.
Or, you may sit back and do nothing in a passive-aggressive attempt to get back at the person with whom you carry a grudge. Both of these responses are wrong. To receive the blessings of God, you must put yourself in remembrance of His Word and be subject to earthly authority just as you submit to His authority.
It's absolutely an act of the will. Do you submit to what God tells you to do, or do you argue with Him? I can always tell if a woman obeys God by observing the way in which she submits to her husband and to those in authority over her. The same principle is true for a man. I can tell how he obeys God by the way he leads his family and submits to the will of God.
Submitting to God is the foundation for submission to others. In doing so, you avoid having to deal with contrary thoughts and bitterness, not to mention unforgiveness and other critical spirits. Your mind will be at peace because you are abiding by the mandates of God's Word.
To submit means to "retire, withdraw, yield and obey." When you retire your plans—how you think something should be done—you become adaptable.
When you are adaptable, you comply. That's when the power of God begins working on your behalf. Submission enables Him to do things that will benefit you.
Women, even if your husband is wrong about something, God can cover the situation and make it turn out all right if you let go of your own resolutions and turn the problem over to Him.
If your trust and submission isn't to the Lord first, you'll fall apart every time your husband makes a mistake. You'll walk around in fear, thinking you have to control all of the decisions and actions of your man.
As a result, your marriage will be filled with strife. You don't have to worry about your husband if he's wrong. Put your trust in God. He will hold your man accountable for his decisions. And believe me, God will take care of him!
Even as godly as Creflo is, I'm not always ready to shout, "Yahoo!" when he asks me to do something. There are times when he has to bring certain things to my attention so I can be better in fulfilling my obligations and responsibilities.
To be honest, at first the hair on the back of my neck stands up, and I want to bristle with indignation! But I know the power in submission, so I retreat to the Word that I've hidden in my heart.
I have determined to be slow to speak and quick to listen. I immediately begin to judge myself and look at those areas needing change. That's an act of my will.
When I do that, God works on my behalf. If my husband is wrong, the power that is on my life convicts him, and he is quick to make things right.
Because of my submission, we are both able to witness the power and peace of God working in that situation, and we are both all the better for it.
But if I had threatened, cried, screamed or sulked, nothing would be resolved. Instead we would be still be "duking" it out, only to walk away later hurt and scarred.
Excerpt permission granted by Creflo Dollar Ministries