Submission: The Channel to Divine Power
Adoration
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God… made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” (Phil. 2:5–7 )
Dearest Daughters,
When it comes to women’s roles, especially in marriage, few words carry more discomfort in today’s world than the word, submission (Eph. 5:22; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:1). I understand why. The fear is that submission means giving up your dignity, your voice, or perhaps even your safety. But in the kingdom of God, submission is none of the above. It’s not oppression—it is liberation. It is not weakness; it is strength channeled into God’s purposes.
Submission, as God designed it, is death only to the flesh, but it is life to the Spirit. Imagine the flow of water through a hose: narrowing the aperture doesn’t diminish the power—it concentrates it. In the same way, submission doesn’t silence who we are in God; it focuses the flow of His Spirit through us. It places us under the mission of Christ.
Throughout history, and especially in the modern era, this word has been twisted into something sinister. The world has crafted counterfeits, versions of submission rooted in fear, domination, or force. But that is not the way of Jesus. His authority flows only through love, never coercion. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Even in His greatest act of submission—laying down His life—He did so not because He was forced, but because He loved.
True submission is always born out of love. It is choosing to come under the same mission as another: first Christ, and then those we walk beside in family and community. In the kingdom, every person has a place of submission. God wasn’t singling out women; He was building a body where no flesh could glory, where egos and agendas dissolve into the love of Christ.
I know the question that lingers in many hearts: “But what if I submit, and the one I submit to misuses their authority?” This is why God created a design in which all are accountable in submission. Individuals are placed in families, families in the church of which Christ is the head. Each relationship of submission is orchestrated to connect all to that head—that lordship of Jesus. So as long as we stay connected to the whole, God can reach us and those we are submitted to with His love and guidance.
I’m often asked, “If Scripture tells me to obey and submit to my husband, does that mean I must trust that everything he says is God’s perfect will—even when I don’t feel it is?”
No. Your husband is human, just as you are, and not every word he speaks will always perfectly reflect God’s will. Submission is not about assuming who is most accurate; it is about whether both of you are seeking to fit into God’s design.
There will be times when mistakes are made. Yet as long as you’re not being asked to sin against the Lord or another person, you can submit in faith, trusting that in the larger picture God sees and guides all things.
What we ultimately trust is not a man, but God and God’s design. We trust our husbands insofar as they too are submitted to that design, but we submit to them because it aligns us in obedience to God. Ultimately our full surrender and obedience belong to God, who knows all things. And trust between husband and wife deepens as both grow in their own submission to Him and to those He sends to each.
Jesus said, “The greatest among you must be the servant of all.” (Mark 10:43–45) In God’s order, the one entrusted with authority also bears the greatest responsibility to serve, to lay down their life in love. And each, in His design, must have a place to submit, to be guided.
So when we ask, “Are men and women equal?”—we must be careful which measuring stick we use. The world measures greatness by control. The kingdom measures greatness by love and the service it produces. Paul reminds us: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)
Do you remember the story of the Roman centurion in Luke 7? He told Jesus, “I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.” He recognized something profound: his strength to lead came from his willingness to be not in authority, but under authority. And he saw that same truth in Jesus, authority flowing out of His submission to the Father.
So, submission in God’s kingdom is not weakness. It is the conduit of divine strength. When you choose biblical submission—whether in marriage or in the church—you are not stepping beneath an oppressive shadow. You are stepping into the divine order of the kingdom, saying with trust, “I believe in God’s design.” And in His design, no one carries the burden of submission alone. We are all submitted—to Christ, and to one another. Your submission positions you as a direct channel of God’s divine power. You come under His mission, as He reigns in dominion over one more sphere of life.
With all my love,
Mom
