- He can also pray that his wife would find companions and soul-
mates who share not only her faith in Christ but also her convictions
about how to live as a godly woman and godly wife. He can pray that
the Enemy would not disrupt those relationships. A wife needs the
strength that comes from solid relationships with others in the body
of Christ, who share what the apostle Peter called “a faith of the same
kind as ours” (2 Pet. 1:1).
THEHUSBAND AS APROPHET
As part of the headship responsibility, every husband also bears the
call to be a prophet in the home. In its simplest definition, a
“prophet” is “one who speaks for God.” Although this may conjure
up images of fortune-tellers, miracle workers, or locust-eating
preachers, the prophet of God has always been one who speaks the
word of the Lord.
Author and counselor Dan Allender offers a helpful definition of
what it means to serve Christ as a prophet today. “He is a bearer of the
word of God,” Allender writes, “a spokesman for righteousness, a poet
of hope.... The true prophet disturbs and invites the heart to return
to godly worship. In fact, the prophet is a servant of the church who
stands outside the church in order to invite those who appear to be in
it to return to true worship.”^4
Here are some marks of a prophetic husband:
He hears from God.The prophet, as Allender said, is one who bears
the word of God. Before he can speak on God’s behalf, he must be a
man who hears clearly the word of God, so that he might faithfully
pass it on to his wife and children.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that God “spoke long ago to
the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways” (Heb.
1:1, NASB). These prophets heard directly from God in dreams,
visions, through an audible voice, or through an impression in their
spirit. Today, we have the completed revelation of God in the pages of
the Bible. To hear from God today, a husband must diligently equip
himself as a student of the Scriptures. Douglas Wilson, in his book
Reforming Marriage,says:
The Husband as Prophet, Priest, and King 105