I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, and said, Write a vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:1-3)
For the fulfillment of any God given vision, there is need for those who believe in the vision to support and bring it to fulfillment. Out of the whole lot of partners that a vision may attract, the most vital one is your spouse. One may argue that there are those who are going ahead with the vision that God has given them without their spouse, the truth is that the fulfillment of the vision would have been faster and less stressful if the spouse believes in the vision. The devil is aware that the most effective way to frustrate the actualization of your vision is to enlist your spouse in his battle against you. Consequently, your ignorance of the vital role which your spouse is supposed to play may make you to cooperate with him in giving you avoidable setbacks in ministry. As ministers of God, we need to understand that there are roles that our wives may be able to play better than anyone else in our ministries. So many ministers have run into avoidable problems by ignorantly giving the roles of their wife to someone else.
Knowing then, that the journey of ministry is much more interesting and fulfilling with the involvement of your spouse, you need to look at some of the steps which may be taken towards making your spouse to become your best ally in ministry.
LET YOUR WIFE BE CONVINCED THAT YOU LOVE HER.
However spiritual your wife is, you will only be able to get the best from her if she feels loved by you. When your spouse does not feel loved, however much she may want to please God, there are limitations to the extent that she can go in partnering with you towards the fulfillment of your vision. One of the major areas where you will demonstrate the love that you have for your spouse is by covering her areas of imperfections. When you expose your wife, you are only exposing yourself for the enemy to know where and how to attack you.
MAKE HER UNDERSTAND THE VISION SUFFICIENTLY WELL TO OWN IT WITH YOU.
The scripture above asks you to write the vision down so that there will be no ambiguity in understanding. It is only a vision that is well understood that anyone can run with and if there is anyone that needs to run with your vision, it is your own spouse. Your spouse needs to understand your vision sufficiently well. One of the advantages of understanding your vision is that your spouse will be convinced that what you are asked to do is different from that of the ministry next door. You should periodically review how you are doing and you should create room for her to ask questions that will create even greater clarifications. The beauty of it is that she will believe that the vision belongs to the family and will be ready to do everything within her power to encourage the actualization of the vision.
ENCOURAGE YOUR SPOUSE’S SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
It takes a spiritually matured mind to understand spiritual matters. Consequently, it is very important for you to actively encourage the spiritual growth of your spouse. When you fail to encourage the spiritual growth of your family, you may inadvertently be digging the grave for your vision. You must encourage her to walk with God because there are times that God may need to remind you of important details about your ministry through your spouse. God may also warn you of dangers ahead thorough a spouse that is in good relationship with Him.
ENSURE THAT YOU SPOUSE UNDERSTANDS THE ELEMENTS OF OBEDIENCE TO GOD.
As you go on in the journey of ministry, you will get to realize that the devil will give you beautiful options that will appear to be more attractive than what God has shown you. At times like this, it takes a spouse that understands the elements of obedience to discourage you from taking the devil’s alternative. Your spouse needs to understand that even when you don’t have an understanding of why God asks you to do something, you must obey all the same while understanding may come later. Your spouse needs to know that what God has asked you to do may be a difficult task, but once you are willing to start, He will be willing to bring it to pass despite your inadequacies. Finally, another element of obedience that your spouse must understand is the ‘stupidity’ of obedience, that is; when God asks you to do something, it may appear to be a stupid idea to man but once it is from God, the foolish idea will bring glorious results.
MAKE YOUR WIFE TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE PERIODS OF CHALLENGES IN MINISTRY.
Make your wife to know that the fact that the vision is from God does not mean that there will be no challenges. This understanding will make her to be a strong pillar of support when there are challenges. Things happen in the process of actualization of your vision that if you are not convinced that God gave you the vision, you will doubt even your call. There are periods in ministry that if you don’t have an understanding spouse, you will be encouraged to accept defeat when victory is just around the corner.
PERIODICALLY REVIEW APOSTLE PAUL’S FINAL WORDS WITH YOUR SPOUSE.
Apparently close to the end of Paul’s earthly ministry, he wrote 2Timothy 4:7-8. ‘I have fought a god fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8, Henceforth there is laid up for me crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing’. Anytime I read the above scripture, it gives me the picture of someone who at the end of his life was able to look back with satisfaction that he had completed his assignment and it always lead me to pray that my end will be like his own. It will be a good idea which will help your wife to take ministry serious by periodically looking at the above scripture and letting the message sink. It is only those who are able to fulfill ministry that will be able to say what Paul said. Ask for her help if she wants you to have the same testimony that Paul had.
CONCLUSION.
Someone said that if you want to know if a man is going to heaven, ask his wife. The statement may not be agreeable to you but the truth is that your spouse is a major determinant of whether or not you will fulfill ministry. Our spouses also need to know that if we fail to fulfill ministry, their own likelihood of escaping regrets later in life is also indeed very slim. Consequently, for our own sake and theirs, we need to do the above and every other thing that we may need to do to encourage them to support us in ministry. May we have such grace and may they also be responsive in Jesus name.
Dr. Mike Oluniyi.
