8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife: “Trust Her Gut”

by David Chadwick

I want to teach you principles for developing biblical love and honor within a marriage.

I love pithy statements that help to easily remember things. Marilynn and I have found the term “8 Great” to be a very easy way to remember Godly principles for different areas of life.

Over the next two weeks, I want to share 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife. Each day, I am going to give you, husbands, a new tool that you can put in your tool belt. Different situations require different tools and my prayer is that you will become more equipped to lead and love your wife with HONOR.

Here is the first tool: trust her gut!

It’s almost as if wives have been given an early warning radar system by God. They can sense danger for their husbands from a mile away. Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” As two become one, a wife’s heart increasingly feels for her husband’s heart.

And wants his heart to be completely protected.

I have so many examples of times I can look back on and see that Marilynn was exactly correct in her intuitions about certain situations and people. If I had listened to her more carefully, I could have avoided some pain.

My Marilynn’s prayer walk is deep and rich. I can trust she is hearing God’s voice (John 10:27). And like God, I know she is FOR me (Romans 8:31).

Husbands, listen to your wife. Honor her warnings.

It will greatly aid in you both becoming one.

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This series is adapted from the book, 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife by David Chadwick. To download your free PDF copy of this book, please visit our website by clicking here!

8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife: “What is Honor?”

by David Chadwick

Honor. Such a powerful word. To honor is defined as this: “to regard with great respect, to prize, to admire, to give special recognition, to demonstrate high respect or great esteem for someone.”

In historical biblical culture, the word “honor” carried tremendous weight. Even today, there are cultures around the world that place a high value on honor.

In God’s original intent, honor is a tool to bestow on one another, to bless, to prefer someone else over ourselves.

Unfortunately, in the modern American Christian culture, people seem to gravitate to one of two extremes regarding honor. It’s either overused or missing in action, not used at all. Neither extreme is biblical.

Biblical honor does not demand artificial respect to cover up someone’s deeper insecurities or evil agendas. Biblical honor does, however, create an atmosphere of respect, rooted in the Word of God, where leadership is revered and everyone can flourish.

From the call to honor parents in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12) to Paul’s desire that all Christians honor one another (Romans 12:10) to husbands commanded by Peter to honor their wives (1 Peter 3:7), honor is interwoven throughout all of Scripture.

For the next two weeks, we are going to look specifically at how husbands can and should honor their wives. If you are single, take notes and begin to train your mind and your heart, even now, with things that could bless a future marriage.

If you are married, start to put these principles into practice in your daily lives. The goal is for two to become one (Genesis 2:24).

And honor is a great tool God has put in the hands of husbands to help this take place.

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This series is adapted from the book, 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife by David Chadwick. To download your free PDF copy of this book, please visit our website by clicking here!

Descriptions of a Faithful Friend: “Your Minister to My Needs”

Faithful friends are hard to come by and the ones you find are worth keeping.

Paul had a faithful friend named Epaphroditus who he describes in detail in Philippians 2:25. I pray that Paul’s description helps to show you what characteristics to look for in your friendships.

Epaphroditus was a brother, a fellow worker, a fellow soldier, and a messenger. And today we will look at the fifth and final characteristic where Paul calls Epaphroditus “your minister to my needs” (verse 25).

Epaphroditus was a minister of the church at Philippi, sent to Paul in a Roman prison to meet his needs.

Please note that Epaphroditus did not come with what he thought Paul needed. He had not made a predetermined list of what he believed Paul should have. He went to Rome in humility to find out from Paul what his actual needs were. Then he committed to try and meet them.

That’s what good and close friends do. They come to you and listen. They try to hear your heart and then meet your needs. They do not have an agenda for your life. They want to see you succeed and thrive.

In fact, one of Paul’s teachings in Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.”

Good friends don’t come and pontificate or preach. They come to listen. Sometimes you don’t even need to say anything! You listen. Then respond.

This was Epaphroditus to Paul. He was a minister of Jesus who was sent by the Philippian church to care for Paul’s needs. But first he understood them. He even risked his life in coming to serve Paul (verse 29). But that’s how much he loved Paul. How we all need friends like this!