Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men

Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men

first position was given to him by legal authority; the other was seized. Whenever you take your position by force, you‘ve moved out of your legal standing. The difference between an elected

head of state and a dictator is very simple. The first has authority and the second merely has power. To have authority means to have a right to govern. Therefore, if a man slaps his wife, kicks his children, and then says, ―I‘m the man of the house; I do what I want,‖ that‘s an

Whenever you

take your

position by

force, you’ve

moved out of

your legal

standing.

abuse of authority; it‘s merely wiel ding power over others. Whenever you abuse your power, you no longer have legiti mate authority. That is why, any time a man starts to dominate another human being, he is out of God‘s will. This principle applies to preachers, as well. Any minister who says to you, ―You ca n not go and visit anybody else‘s church,‖ is someone to be wary of. He‘s beginning to dominate. And God says men were created to dominate the earth, not one another. When this occurs, and power is abused, then authority is forfeited. Many men‘s distorted understanding of strength can be seen in the way they view the concept of submission. Yet the passage in which this concept is found, Ephesians 5:22 – 23, contains something many people miss. It says, “Wives, su b mit to your husbands as to the Lord . For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church . ” Let‘s first talk about the word submission . The definition of submit means to ―willfully give your will to another.‖ Su b mission has nothing to do with force or pressure. It‘s an act of the will. To submit is the choice of the person who is sub mitting, not the command of one who wants to be submitted to. Put another way, you cannot submit unless you want to, and no one can make you submit if you don‘t want to. A Distorted View of Submission

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