DETAILED ROLES OF A PROPHET

DETAILED ROLES OF A PROPHET 

A prophet can take a variety of roles. This is an expression of the creativity of God. A prophet may act in every role occasionally, but mostly he/she will move in one or more of these roles. No two prophets should be the same; each should be a reflection of God’s creativity and calling.

1.   prayer:

Unceasing prayer for the Christian community is an important task of a prophet.

Because he/she knows the mind of God, he/she is in a position to pray effectively. He/she has a clear picture of what God is doing, so he/she knows where prayer is needed most.

The prophet watches over the Word of God and prays it into being. He/she must not rest until God has fulfilled His Word – Isa. 62:6. Praying prophets have frequently been at a premium in the history of God’s people.

2.   Receiving the Word of God:

A key role of a prophet is waiting in the presence of God to receive the Word of God. God is sovereign so we cannot tell Him when He should speak. Hearing will always require waiting.

The task of a prophet is to know the will of God, so that he/she could convey it to the people of God. A prophet’s ministry consists in handling revelation that is the knowledge that God has revealed to him/her.

3.   Suffering:

A prophet is often called to suffering. Deep dealing at the hand of God’s will often needed to prepare the prophet for receiving the Word of God.

Sometimes, he/she may actually have to experience beforehand, something of what his/her people will experience.

For example, Jeremiah spent many years in captivity. He was often rejected and ostracized; he was even accused of being a traitor.

Ezekiel had to lie on his side for 390 days to symbolize the judgement that would come upon his nation. This suffering made the prophets extremely aware of their human frailty – Jer. 20:7-10.

It also equipped the prophet to give what was often a very harsh message in a spirit of compassion. A true message is nullified if it is spoken in the wrong spirit.

Suffering softens the prophet’s spirit, so that he/she can give the hardest word in a spirit of love. Suffering contributes to Jeremiah’s compassion.

A prophetic ministry involves having a foretaste of suffering and judgement that will come as a result of the sin of the Church and the whole world, since iniquity would soon be universal.

In such commission, one must be willing to pay the price involved in foreseeing the coming event. Only then can the warning be passed on.

A messenger who has not been willing to move into a close combat with reality, with the pain of the down trodden, will not be able to bring a message of relief and healing.

A painless message cannot ease pain. A painless message cannot carry a burden. A true messenger of the Lord begins every voyage at the Cross. Each and every piece brought forth from his/her mouth is marked by the cross.

Many are eager to wear the prophet’s mantle, but are reluctant to bear the Christian’s cross. This cannot be. There is a burden in being a prophet, which the Old Testament prophets found that they could not always bear.

4.   Worship:

The prophetic ministry can often play an important part in worship. Apostle Paul said that when the Church gathered together, two or three prophets should speak and others should weigh carefully what is said… – 1 Cor. 14:29-33.

A prophet that speaks of the glory and wonders of God will inspire his/her people to worship.

1 Chronicles 24 lists a number of men who were set aside for the ministry of prophesying to the accompaniment of musical instruments as part of the Temple Worship.

This ministry is needed today. In small fellowship, it can be provided by the gift of prophecy. In large meetings for celebration will benefit from prophets who can bring a word from the Lord to build the worship.

Miriam, the prophetess led the children of Israel in worship after they had crossed the Red sea – Exo. 15:19-21.

In the Temple, there were people whose role was to prophesy as part of the worship. They were professional worshippers and prophets, responsible for leading the worship in the house of God – 1 Chron. 25:1,6.

5.   Encouragement:

Encouragement of brethren is an important aspect of the prophet’s ministry. Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. He who prophesies edifies the Church of God – 1 Cor. 14:3-4.

The word of the prophet will build up and strengthen the Church. This will be especially important in times of trial and tribulation. Silas and Judas were two prophets who encouraged the Church in Antioch – Acts 15:32.

The Scriptures give a number of examples of prophets who encouraged the leaders of their nation to act boldly:

i.             Asa – 2 Chron. 15:1.

ii.            Haggai – Hag. 1:13-15.

iii.           Haggai and Zechariah – Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14.

The prophetic ministry is to alert the Church to the “now-ness” of the Holy Spirit.

It awakens us to the will and purpose of God for us in the present that is what God specifically wants to do in us and through us.

6.   Foretelling the future:

Prediction of the future is part of the prophetic ministry. Almost every prophet in the Old Testament appeared first as a foreteller.

Through the prophet’s fellowship with the eternal God, he/she has access to the future. He/she is the seer who has insight into God’s purposes for History.

However, whatever he/she sees for the future is always related to the present. He/she warns for the future judgements so that people will change their behaviours now. He/she speaks of future blessing to give hope for the present.

The prophet speaks to the present, in light of the future that God has revealed to him/her. For example, Isaiah warned Hezekiah that he would die – 2 Kings 20:1-2.

Calls to repentance and calls to practical holiness are based on:

i.              A word concerning the future.

ii.            The vision of the wrath to come is the basis of a present seeking of the mercy of God.

iii.           The vision of bliss to come is a call to a walking in the light now.

Prophet must know God and understand the world and bring God’s revelation to bear to show people where it is going. He/she should show people what to do next.

History becomes revelation because there was added to the historical situation a man prepared beforehand to say what it meant.

The prophets were not left to struggle with the meaning of events as or after they happened, they apprehend them beforehand and were warned by God of their significance.

7.   Direction and Guidance:

Prophets bring the Word of the Lord to the Church. Christians can get so caught up in the events of the words they do not see what God is doing.

This is particularly true in tumultuous times, when it can be very hard to see the hand of God at work.

Prophets will give directions and vision in these situations, so that God’s people will know what is happening and what they should do.

For example, Prophet Gad provided guidance to David and showed him how to avoid trouble – 1 Sam. 22:5.

Prophets can give direction to those who are seeking the will of God. Sometimes the prophetic word will be for the Church as a whole or for the leadership of the Church.

Prophets admonishes, warns, directs, intercedes etc. far more important they stand at walls to see what the Lord is doing that they may call the body to respond.

Prophets are called to stand in the Councils of the Lord. They stand before the Living God. Having stood before God, they are sent to stand for God, before His people and speak His Word.

Personal prophecy must be treated with caution. The gift of prophecy is not usually directive, so it is dangerous to make life changing decisions on the basis of a prophecy uttered by a person who has not been recognized as a prophet.

Prophets will sometimes give direction but generally this should come as “confirmation of something that God has already spoken to the person concerned.”

God wants to lead His people by His Spirit. He desires that every believer should learn to hear the Spirit’s voice.

A message from a prophet should normally come as a confirmation of something that the Spirit has already spoken.

Getting confirmation from a prophet before we act can be really encouraging but we need to be very careful.

A personal prophecy can be misleading if we let our plans and desires control our thinking. Ezekiel gives a surprising warning about this – Ezek. 14:4.

If a person has let something he/she wants to do to become an idol in his/her heart/mind. If the person acts on the prophecy, it will lead to disaster. God does this to reveal the idol and recapture in the person’s heart/mind.

This means that we must be careful with personal prophecy. If a prophet confirms what you want to do, it may just be a sign that you have made your own plans into an “idol in your heart.”

Making decisions on the basis of a word from another person is dangerous. It is wrong to be totally dependent on others for guidance.

Many Christians have been astray because they failed to get their own word from God.

The major thrust of these servants was to declare God’s heart to His people, pricking their hearts that they might return to His ways.

Telling people what they want to hear at the expense of what they need to hear weakens the Church. It causes people to seek the gifts and manifestations to the neglect of pursing the character of God.

8.   Interpreting Dreams and Visions:

This is an important aspect of the prophetic ministry. God often speak in dreams to people who are not listening. We must learn to interpret these to understand what God is saying.

Prophets are expected to be skillful in interpreting dreams and visions - Deut. 13:1. This passage makes it unequivocal that the Lord regards prophets and dreamers as one and the same. Unfortunately, the body of Christ has not yet grasped that.

It is imperative that at least God’s prophets and hopefully, the entire body, come to comprehend how important this aspect of prophet’s equipment actually is, and that His prophets become adept both in having their own dreams and in interpreting theirs and those of others – Dan. 2:19-23.

Dreams often include people and objects with which we are familiar with used in symbolic ways.

We must not assume that they will be fulfilled literally. For example, Joseph’s dream – Gen. 37:5-12; 40:5-22; 44:11-32.

Kings and rulers will often hear God through dream. Prophets can help them to understand what God is saying – Prov. 25:2.

Those particularly gifted with dreams, vision, prophecy and revelation need to be careful not to think of themselves too highly, as being the prophetic group.

They must come to the understanding that they serve only one dimension of the Church’s greater calling as a prophetic community.

9.   Correction and Admonition:

There is also a negative side to the ministry of the prophet. This can be seen in the calling of Prophet Jeremiah – Jer. 1:10,

“See I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and pull down and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

God often have to uproot and teardown, destroy and overthrow, before He can begin to plant and build. Prophets co-operate with God in breaking down all that is not built on the true foundation.

They do this by announcing God’s judgement. At the same time, they watch over all that God is building to see that it is built according to His Word.

This awesome task but God cannot complete His restoration work until the prophetic ministry is restored.

Apostle Paul described a prophetic ministry as ministry that cut to the hearts of the people – 1 Cor. 4:20-21.

No compromise, that is a prophet’s heart when he/she sees the thing that need to be opposed, and hears God’s Word, he is merciless.

A prophet’s job is lonely; he is usually a one man verbal demolition team. He/she must attack the root of evil, which goes very deep and affects everything.

He/she does not criticize this or that evil, he/she criticizes the system that produced a forest of bad trees and bad fruit.

Prophet Elijah prayed a terrible prayer. But there is something far more dreadful than physical calamities and suffering, namely:

i.             Delinquency.

ii.            Spiritual apostasy.

This is very rarely perceived. Desperate disease that calls for drastic measures. Prophet Elijah was a confrontational prophet. God used him to confront the evils of his time.

One element of Christian compassion is outrage. If we see what is wrong as God sees it, we feel about it as God feels it.

Moses was outraged when he looked on the burden of his people. His action was immature but his outrage was natural.

In the time of the prophets, as Israel’s national decadence brought in its wake violent, social injustice and in humanity, the outrage of prophets is searing. Amos was furious when he saw the poor sold for the prize of shoes – Amos 2:6.

The prophetic voice of Israel was primarily a word of judgement upon the people of God.

So the prophetic voice of the Church must be a word which warns of impending judgement upon the Church. Warning to the world is secondary.

10.    Exposing Rotten Leadership:

Rotten leadership has done terrible damage in the Church. It has imparted sin (and perhaps evil spirits) to 600 and 1000 of ordinary people who trusted their leaders and were vulnerable because they submitted to them.

When the leadership of a Church is rotten, the prophet should be exposing it.

The reality is that a prophet is not needed to expose most problems within the Church leadership. The people, who are close to the leader, usually know what is going on.

The problem is that they are too loyal to challenge the leader they look up to. The prophet is usually the only one tough enough to call the leader on their faults.

God has provided a way to protect leaders and people but the Church consistently refuses to adopt it.

Leadership incidents will only stop when the Church goes back to “Balanced Ministry,” with Churches led by a team of:-

i.     Apostles.

ii.    Prophets.

iii.   Evangelists.

iv.  Pastors.

v.   Teachers.

Working together in submission to each other. As long as we perpetuate the myth that one person must be “top dog,” embarrassing incidents will continue to shame the Church and hurt innocent Christians.

God cannot protect His people from evil, while the leaders of His Church refuse to adopt the spiritual protection He has provided. Prophets should be exposing this problem.

11.  Announcing Judgement:

God raised up the prophets to speak to evil people and nations and warn them of approaching judgement. God’s purposes in judgement are clearer, if a prophet announces them in advance

The prophet’s declaration and intercession gives God authority to deal with evil. When a situation turns sour and God needs to take an action, His prophet announces His condemnation of evil.

The prophetic declaration expresses God’s judgement and verdict on the evil. God’s action against the evil represents His sentence against the evil. Prophets and judgement goes together.

Unless God sends judgement against emerging evil, the prophet would just be crying in the wind. Prophets and judgement were God’s strategy for constraining evil in the world.

The modern world thinks of judgement as a grumpy god going round waking people. However, most people in the world do not get justice. Their life is full of injustice.

Various empires and political leaders have promised to get them justice, but the ordinary people never received it. Fair judgement is good news for most people.

If we want to understand God’s judgement, we should need to be “Beatitudes.” Math. 5:1-11.

The poor will be blessed. The rich will be disappointed, because they have already received their comfort. Those who have plenty and privileges might miss out.

12.  Warning of Danger:

When Apostle Paul was going up to Jerusalem, prophet Agabus warned him of impending danger he could face there – Acts. 21:10-11.

God often prepares His people in this way. The prophet is a watchman, who warns God’s people of coming trouble - Amos 3:5-7.

13.    Interpreting the Signs of the Times:

The Lord Jesus Christ criticized the Jews because they could understand the weather but they could not interpret the signs of the times – Luke 12:54-56.

Prophets must be able to understand the signs of the times and interpret them to the world.

The seers are one who has understanding of the times. They have the ability to perceive and discern the spiritual significance of a situation and can give the Lord’s perspective on a given situation.

Their strength are gifting of illumination and discernment, though they may or may not communicate what they see in any one set or particular manner.

These kinds of prophets are extremely valuable as a watchman and intercessors in the midst of the Church.

Within the long, circuitous, often delayed progress in understanding, there were sudden explosions of saving activity. It is to the prophets that God revealed the coming and meaning of such times.

Indeed from one point of view, the prophet may be described as the person who more than anyone else, knows what time it is.

If a prophet has no personal history with God, no spiritual depth to draw from, no deep root in firm soil establishes over many seasons of Christian experience, how can he or she presume to speak from a position of revelation into what God is telling the Church today?

Furthermore, if a prophet cannot accurately interpret and read signs of the present times, if he or she cannot correctly judge and precisely discern his or her own generation; if he or she cannot relate to what God is saying and doing in terms of present truth, how can he or she presume to speak of the future events?

14.   The Meaning of History:

Prophets have a role of explaining the meaning of history. When a culture losses an understanding of its history, it loses its sense of direction. This is also applicable to Church community.

The Church at large has been unable to give effective lead in secular society due to the loss of a sense of mission and direction.

Without a clear sense on its own purpose, identity and destiny, the Church has been powerless to influence an increasingly secular society.

A major cause of the Church’s loss of direction has been due to the lack of clear concept of the meaning of history. Mankind is crying out for an understanding of history.

This is fundamental importance for grappling with the underlying issues concerning the meaning and purpose of life itself.

“The Church will never be able to satisfy the deepest longings of mankind and give a lead to secular nations or point the way to creative policies promoting health, happiness and well-being of mankind until Christians recover an understanding of history.” Clifford Hill (Shaking the nation).

God’s actions in human history had to be interpreted and this was one of the major roles of the prophets. The Bible reveals a God who has plans for the whole world, which cannot be thwarted.

Once God has announced His purposes nothing can stand against Him or prevent Him from fulfilling them.

This understanding of God as the Lord of history is something that has very largely been lost by Churches especially the Western Church.

This has resulted in a powerlessness to declare the Word of God with prophetic power and conviction in the second of the 20^th Century, when all the nations have been shaken.

When God stretches out His hand and says that the time has come for a nation or a people, they can no longer stand. God’s plan for history is revealed through His prophets.

This helps one to understand the mystery of Christ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy Apostles and Prophets – Eph. 3:4-5.

15.    Testing of Prophecy:

Testing of prophecy is another important task of prophets – 1 Cor. 14:29. Part of prophetic role is to sit and listen to prophecies and “weigh carefully” the words that are spoken.

This is something that two or three should do together. If a prophecy does not get a consensus support, it should be discarded.

Testing prophecies is a very important aspect of the prophetic ministry. We are now hearing more and more prophetic words being spoken to the Church, but the quality is still very mixed.

Christians do not know which words they should take seriously; many warnings of disasters have not been fulfilled. This unclear sounding of the trumpet is producing confusion in the Church.

The solution is for prophets to get more involved in testing of prophecies and sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Churches that are moving in prophecy should sit up and follow the processes for this to happen.

16.  Watchman:

Some prophets are watchmen or men of vision who stand on the walls of the city of God to see what He is doing. They look into the distance to see what is coming.

They often see a long way ahead. Several scriptures describe the role of watchman – Hos. 9:8; Ezek. 33:1-11.

Prophets are called watchmen because they basically functioned in the spiritual realm just as the literal watchmen did in the natural realm.

The national watchmen were stationed at specific posts on the walls of the city that gave them the visibility to watch for the king or other members of the nobility to announce their coming.

They were also to look for enemies from without, or disorder arising within the city or camp of Israel.

Watchman should not be in the city eating and drinking with the town’s folks. Watchman should not be out on the watch-tower looking into the night.

The watchman, like the eagle must be free to fly as he or she wills (in God) and to flow prophetically in all the prophetic function and not be restricted by man.

Without the freedom to fly like an eagle, the watchman will become a controlled, chained prisoner of the Church itself.

The true Church could not have become the “institution” it has been, if the watchmen of the Church had not been rendered impotent.

Elijah’s servant needed to have his eyes opened to see the full reality of his situation. This is something we all need – 2 King 6:15-17.

17.  Challenging the Nation:

The primary responsibility of a prophet is to speak to God’s people but he/she may also be called to speak to his/her nation.

Many of the prophets of the O.T. found themselves confronting Kings, and taking an important role in national affairs. Some also addressed their words to foreign nations.

Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied to the surrounding nations – Isa. 12-13; Jer. 46-51; Ezek. 25-32. The Church will always be the prophet’s main concern but this wider prophetic role urgently needs restoring.

The prophets of Israel did not live in isolation, they were acutely aware of international politics and the rise and fall of nations. Some of them pronounced messages against the nations of their times.

All of them were concerned about the world’s situation, and it was part of their calling to issue prophecies against the other nations of the world.

Having matured in their prophetic gifting through years of faithful obedience to God, prophets will begin to operate on new levels of prophetic ministry and authority.

Worldwide, prophets will speak before civil governments, delivering powerful prophetic speeches to nations, literally shaking their existing political foundations.

18.    Initiating God’s Action:

God does nothing without warning His people first. Part of prophetic role is to release God’s activity by providing these warning – Amos 3:7. Isaiah spoke of God stretching out His hands according to His plan – Isa. 14:24-27; 52:10.

Prophetic hearts not prophetic charts will change the course of history and bring God’s prophesied will into actual effect.

19.    Explaining what must be Done:

Many prophecies are warning of future disastrous events, but very few are explaining what God is doing and how He will work through these events to bring change.

Seeing from within the dark cloud of events seems to prevent them from seeing what the Lord is seeing.

A related problem is that many Christians enjoy warnings of judgement on the world more than they want strategies that would require them to take action to bring in the victory of God.

God does not cause troubles and calamities; they are rooted in human evil or folly with a bit of demonic mischief thrown into the world.

During a judgement, God takes the human mess and works with it for good to achieve His purposes.

The role of the prophet is to warn people of the trouble before they come, so that God’s people can prepare. 

Major important task of a prophet is to explain what God is doing through the event, so that His people can participate in His purposes.

Prophets can truly accomplish this task, if they are standing outside the dark cloud of human events and seeing with the eyes of God.

When a prophet receives a warning of a calamitous event, the task has just begun.

The next is for prophets to find out what God plans to achieve through the event and His strategy for the people who want to participate in His purposes during that event. We need more eyes of God and less of the dark cloud.

According to Rom. 12:6, Christians with the gift of prophecy should prophesy in proportion to their faith. Prophesying judgement to a nation in decline does not take much faith.

Prophesying the strategy by which God will use the judgement to change the nation and bring a great victory takes much more faith. That is a challenge for modern prophets.

20.  Theology:

Prophets should be experts on God. Their role in theology is to pass on theological and biblical insights to the Church. A prophet should also be a theologian.

Jeremiah was of all the prophets of the Old Testament, the supreme prophet of the human heart. Jeremiah would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their hearts.

Let other prophets negotiate and send ambassadors as they please. Jeremiah, in season and out of season, for a long life time had siege to the heart of his hearers.

“Seers are men of revelation. Seers are men of enlightenment.  Seers are men of intellectual maturity.” Lars Widerberg.

21.      Healing the Sick:

Some prophets are used in healing the sick. Elijah was a prophet who moved effectively in the gift of healing. Elisha followed his mentor’s footsteps – 2 Kings 5:7-10; 2 Kings 4:32-35.

22.  Appointing and Anointing Leaders:

In Old Testament times, God often used a prophet to appoint and anoint a king. Samuel anointed Saul and then David as King.

A prophet anointed Solomon as David’s successor – 1 Kings 1:38-39. Elijah was told to anoint Jehu the son of Nimishi King over Israel – 2 Kings 9:1-10.

In Godly nation, prophets may have a role in the appointment of political leaders. Prophets also have a role in anointing other prophets for ministry – 1 Kings 19:16, 19.

23.    Advising Kings and Political Leaders:

Prophets have a powerful role in providing advice to kings and rulers. When God wanted to give guidance to a ruler, He often gave it through a prophet.

King David had the prophets Nathan and Gad in his palace. They advised him about a whole range of matters – 2 Sam. 7:1-4, 17; 24:10-14; 1 Sam. 22:5.

A prophet advised Ahab as he went to battle – 1 Kings 20:13-29. Elisha provided guidance to the army of Israel that frustrated its enemies – 2 Kings 6:9-12.

PROPHETS LEVEL OF ACTIVITIES

Prophets can minister at different levels such as:

1.   People – some prophets specialize in speaking to individual people. Personal prophecy provides guidance and correction.

2.   Church – other prophets speak primarily to their Church denomination. As they develop in this ministry, they may also speak into other Churches. Prophets provide a Church with:

i.             Guidance.

ii.            Vision.

iii.           Warning.

iv.          Purity.

3.   The Nations – some people will be called to be a prophet to their nation. They may also develop to speak to other nations. A prophet to a nation provides:

i.             Advice to rulers.

ii.            Interpretation of God’s law.

iii.           Warning of judgement.

It is for this reason that prophets so often appear in the presence of rulers. It would sometimes seem as though they were primarily sent to kings. For through the kings, they might best influence the welfare of the nation.

Hence, also their closeness to the priest. It would be a grave mistake, however, to assume that because of the great interest of the prophets in the monarchy, they were themselves primarily politicians.

Their political activity is always subservient to a religious end. They did serve as the counselors but they did so in order that the theocratic kingdom might prosper.

Daniel would be an example of a prophet of the government. His prophecies spoke of monumental changes in world order.

There are just such prophets today. Some of these prophets are actually in governmental positions.

Prophets seem to be sent to various institutions of society, such as;

i.             Legal offices.

ii.            Educational offices.

iii.           Government offices.

Government prophets may not give personal prophecies. They also understand trends and are watchmen on the wall for their nation.

The prophetic institution as such may be regarded as the guidance of this theocracy. The prophets were to build upon the foundation of the Mosaic Laws and to expound that law unto the nation.

They would thus be preservers and defenders of the principles upon which the theocracy had been founded by God.

THE ROLE OFA WOMAN IN THE HOME AND THE CHURCH

INTRODUCTION:

This is an attempt to bring to the notice of the people under this teaching what is considered as the roles of women in the home front, their responsibilities to the homes and roles and responsibilities to the Churches they belong to.

If a thorough study and expansion is done, many people stand to benefit from this teaching. And so it is recommended for all and sundry.

ROLE DEFINED:

i.                   Role is a part or a function one play in life or in any event.

ii.                 Role is the function or position that somebody has or is expected to have in an organization, in the society, in the family or in a relationship.

iii.              Role is the degree to which somebody or something is involved in a situation or any activity and the effect that they have on it.

THE ROLE OF A WOMAN IN THE HOME:

TO THE HUSBAND:

The position of a woman in each home so unique and important; so also are the roles a woman so unique and paramount but as diverse as numerous as women are in our world with individual differences.

My concern in this presentation will be focused upon the ideal woman, which every woman on the planet earth should seek to emulate. Prov. 31:10-31.

1.     The first role of a woman in the home is that of a good wife to her husband. As the direct counterpart of her husband, she has the responsibility of being good to her husband all her life.

2.     The woman is to complement her husband in all aspects of life helping to bring into fulfillment her husband’s vision and aspiration in life.

3.     Although the woman is opposite in nature to her husband, she must not oppose her husband or contend with him; she is expected to demonstrate strong support for him at all times.

4.     The woman is expected to be a loving wife and a mother to her husband.

·        Providing motherly care and concern for her husband.

·        Providing the needed comfort and support for the husband.

·        Meeting the husband’s emotional, psychological and physical needs.

5.     The woman is expected to submit to her husband with love, accepting to share the life of her husband with him.

·        Respecting and honouring her husband and obeying him at all times.

·        Reverencing her husband at all times and paying him due diligence as Sarah called her husband her lord. Gen. 18:9-12.

·        Helping to keep, nurture and build the husband’s life which she has come to share.

·        Making the home conducive for her husband for relaxation and place of rest after the battering effect of the outside world.

6.     The woman is expected to have and enjoy uninterrupted close intimacy with her husband at all times.

·        Her love for her husband must never be shifted to the children. The husband remains number one factor in her life and home before the children or any other person or thing.

·        Children must not be allowed undue interference into matters and issues that is not directly their concern.

7.     The woman as a good wife and partner of her husband must be concerned with the development of her husband and herself. Tangible investment and support must be made in the development of her husband and herself in the aspect of life:

·        Economically.

·        Financially.

·        Educationally.

·        Spiritually.

·        Physically.

8.     The woman is expected to develop good character which will make her husband to be open to her and trust her enough to enable him confide in her.

9.     The woman is expected to be the chief adviser to her husband in all aspects of life positively, thus assisting him positively in;

·        Planning for their future (old age, when their children have grown gone out from them).

·        Making the needed savings or investment for old age such as;

10.                        The woman must be prepared to meet with the felt needs of her husband such as;

·        Emotional needs.

·        Psychological needs.

·        Spiritual needs.

·        Physical needs.

·        Sexual needs.

Any woman who does not want to have anything to do with sex or who is not prepared to meet the husband’s sexual needs should never venture into marriage relationship and should be advised to remain like angels.

11.                        The woman is expected to work for the safety of her husband at all times without seeking to hurt him in life whatever the situation. Abigail a case study. 1 Sam. 25:14-17.

TO THE CHILDREN AND HER HOUSEHOLD:

1.     The woman is expected to be a loving and caring mother to her children and the members of her household.

·        Providing a motherly care and concern for members of her family.

·        Providing the needed care and comfort for the members of her family.

2.     The woman apart from being a good mother, she is expected to be a home maker and a good home manager.

·        Making the home conducive for every member of the family.

·        Managing very well the resources (income) of the home no matter how small it is.

·        Providing the needed comfort her children and every members of the family to enable them always return home at the end of each day not desiring to remain outside the home for solace.

3.     The woman as the co-labourer with her husband in building the family is expected to foster unity amongst members of her family and home.

·        The woman in unity with her husband extends such unity to the children and members of her household.

·        The woman is expected to make the children love their father as they love themselves.

·        The woman is not expected to run down her husband or bring him to disrepute in the presence of the children and family members so as not to cause disaffection.

4.     The woman as good partner of her husband must collaborate  with the husband in the development of her children and members of her family in the following aspects of life:

·        Physically.

·        Educationally.

·        Economically.

·        Psychologically.

·        Spiritually etc.

5.     The woman is expected to be a good motivator of her husband in planning for family and the future of the family.

·        Helping her husband to make savings for landed property purchase for the family.

·        Helping to build house (family house) and commercial houses to generate enough funds for the family.

·        Labouring together with the husband to generate money for the family and to ensure good and profitable inheritance for their children when they both leave the stage.

For a woman to do all these, she must be very industrious as the ideal woman in Prov. 31:13-19.

6.     The woman is expected to take active part in the home and an active partner of her husband in building the family.

·        Passivity on the part of a woman in matters that concern her home and family members is a disservice.

·        The woman must demonstrate activeness, and labour to make needed contribution for the well being of the family.

NB:     The resources and earnings of the man is for all members of the family including the woman. Whatever that is good for geese is also good for the ganders, therefore, resources and earnings from the woman of the household should also be available for all members of the family, the husband inclusive. See example of the ideal woman. Prov. 31:10-21.