Respect: One of Your Man’s Most Important Needs

love your husband day 4

“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:33

“There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.” -Martin Luther

 

  • Call your prayer partner for your 10-minute prayer call. If you are having trouble connecting, keep trying! 
  •  It’s a brand new day to spend time with Jesus! He is longing to meet with you and teach you how to love your husband well. Pray for God to give you wisdom to help you understand today’s study and apply it to your life.
  • Grab your Bibles and Read Ephesians 5:21-33. If you have extra time, read the whole chapter. Write verse 33 of the amplified Bible version (found below) in your journal.

Respect: One of Your Man’s Most Important Needs

Not too long ago, my husband and I were on a date at a local restaurant in our town. I was looking over the menu when I noticed a man and woman, both in their 50’s, about to sit in the booth next to us. They sat down next to each other on the same side of the booth. The woman looked cute and classy, but the one thing I noticed about her (after I saw that she was married) was the way she turned her body to where she could really look into her husband’s eyes and listened intently to every word he said.

This went on the whole time they were together. It impressed me so much to see how she was completely paying attention to him and would put her hand on his every now and then. I loved that! Here they were, a bit of an older couple, still in love, and she was still showing him respect by truly listening to him and looking into his eyes.

After being married for 25 years, I become more and more aware of how much my husband really needs me to respect him.

God teaches us about respect in Ephesians 5:33: “However, each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

The amplified Bible says: “and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear].”

Isn’t that beautiful? God wants us to respect and delight in our husbands; to notice him, prefer him, treat him with loving concern, treasure him, honor him and hold him dear.

Wow! How romantic!

I know that, in some marriages, it may be challenging if we do not feel truly loved by our husbands. Pray for him. Pray for your marriage, for the love to return, and then do your best to respect your man. Ask God to help you to talk sweetly to him and to encourage him. Our husbands need us to believe in them and their dreams.

Our husbands also need us to be their cheerleaders; they need to feel that we think they are the smartest men on the face of the earth. In our home, we call it “Feeling their muscles.” It means that we praise the guys in our home (our sons need respect too). It’s not fake; it’s real. There is always something good to praise someone for.

If you truly can’t think of anything good to say about your husband, ask God to help you to see his heart and to praise him. So often, people will rise to our expectations of them.

Does your man go to work every day? Does he come home every night? Does he pay the bills? Does he spend time with the kids? When our children were growing up,  I always used to tell my husband “thank you” for taking our family to church every Sunday. I know that there are a lot of men that would rather watch football or sleep in, but my man takes us to church.

Another thing that I have noticed is that our men need us to affirm them in front of other people. Don’t bash your man in front of others or behind his back. It’s no fun to be put down or made fun of. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Ask God to help you to be the “Wise woman that builds her house and not the foolish woman that tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 14:1.

Accept your husband and your own puzzle. Our men need us to appreciate them and to bring life to our homes.

That’s what we do as women–we bring life.

Ask God to help you to love your husband, respect him, and be content with who he is and your life together.

 Questions to Ponder: Write the answers to these questions in your journal. 

  • Pray and ask God to show you any areas where you haven’t been showing respect to your husband.
  • Ask God to show you ways that you can show your husband love by showing him respect. Write them down in your journal. Pray for God to help you to respect your husband.

 Faith-Filled Idea:  

  • Write your husband a love note telling him 5 things you most appreciate about him and mail it to your home.

Click here for “10 Scriptures to Pray Over Your Marriage” Printable

10 scriptures to pray over your marriage

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We at the HCFM are praying for our online community to build relationships, even if they are across the country or the world!

-How can you show your husband respect this week?[/box]

Deb Weakly

12 Comments on “Respect: One of Your Man’s Most Important Needs”

    1. Hi Andrea, I love the way the Bible speaks about respecting our husbands. Ephesians 5 verse 33 says it beautifully in the amplified version:

      “…and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly].”

      I hope this helps! Thanks for being here!

  1. I feel like this is one of the most important things in a marriage, I’m learning–Respect for your husband! And, it doesn’t always come naturally…it takes resolve and effort…something I’m still trying to work on!

  2. Thank you for this Deb! This was so good and reminded me how important praise is for our husbands to hear. I know Luke thrives when I do this, I just don’t do it enough! I love your “Feeling their muscles” praise idea! He would definitely appreciate something like this and get a laugh too!

    Respect is such an important part of a marriage and one that I think I take for granted sometimes. I can respect Luke this week by remembering that we are not just parents in this crazy season of life now, but we are friends! I find I talk to my friends with more respect and wouldn’t say some things either. So, if I focus on Luke as my best friend, the man I love being around, then I will speak more kindly to him and show him how much I love him!!

    1. That’s such a great point Kristall! We can tend to treat our friends better than we do our own husbands, and they are our number one relationship next to Jesus. You have so much wisdom and insight.

  3. What a beautiful Devotional Deb, thank you! That little story you gave about the couple you saw at a restaurant, really gave me something to think about. What kind of intentional messages am I sending my husband? Respect and admiration are so important to our husbands.

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