DAY 21: WINNING THE WAR AGAINST JEZEBEL IV (OVERCOMING SEXUAL TEMPTATION)

-

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM





September 21, 2023.

Topic: WINNING THE WAR AGAINST JEZEBEL IV (OVERCOMING SEXUAL TEMPTATION)

Bible Reading: Proverbs 7:1-27

Verse for Meditation: 2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.


Sex is good but only in the confinement of marriage. God who gave that instruction is all wise, and you cannot be wiser than Him. Most of the problem we are facing in our world is as a result of violating God’s principle of marriage. For example, some of the effects of forceful single parenting has led to increase in poverty, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and has caused poor behaviour and bad societal relationship like lack of trust, low self-esteem, depression and emotional instability. Children raised by forceful single parenting are seven times more likely to be involved in a crime.

Some people may feel like to opt in for the withdrawal method or use of the contraceptives. First having sex generally build up romantic attachment; commonly called soul tie. Apostle Paul, through the wisdom of God wrote on this as we have seen yesterday. And it has been proven medically that when oxytocin is released during coitus trust and bonds are formed. It is also called a love hormone. Now this affects married couples has part of them has been joined with another, thus a high risk of divorce.

Secondly, the use of contraceptives can sometimes cause neo-plastic diseases such as breast cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer. And most research has shown the association between the use of contraceptives and cardiovascular diseases.

What about masturbation? It generally leads to weakness, fatigue, can affect sexual intimacy between married couples, lower back pain, and mental and physical imbalance.

How about pornography? It affects one’s mental reasoning, it increases aggression, it leads to isolation, it causes one to neglect other areas of their lives and builds up a distorted belief and perception about relationships and sexuality.

There is one thing that is common with sexual sins, it affects interpersonal relationship. A man who has no self-control is like a city without defence, open to attack (Prov. 25:28). If you have no control over your lustful desires, it will control your life eventually. So how do you overcome sexual temptation? Starve the flesh; feed the spirit.

To starve the flesh and feed the spirit is to have a change of appetite and desire. When Jesus was tempted He didn’t engage the devil in a conversation like Eve did, instead He confronted the devil’s temptation by declaring the Word. Don’t keep quiet when you are tempted with lust; speak the Word. Spend more time with God’s Word; it can save your soul. Spend more time praying in the Spirit; by so doing you build around yourself defence against all forms of temptation.

And many times, you have to run away from such environment that arouses sexual urge. Joseph was not speaking in tongues when faced with sexual sin, instead he ran away. Build discipline and burn those bridges; block and delete those contacts if need be, uninstall those apps that arouses you, also there are some movies you need to stop watching. It is a war!

While running away from sexual sin, don’t run into isolation. Apostle Paul told Timothy to run away from youthful lusts and pursue a right company of believers. Also never stay idle; get occupied and engaged in profitable activities.

And lastly, you need to have someone you can trust to help you, who can be your accountability partner. Get someone that you will be accountable to. The Bible says, “For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counsellors, there is safety.” (Prov. 24:6).


PRAYER:

I RECEIVE GRACE TO PUT MY BODY UNDER SUBJECTION. AMEN!


DECLARATION:

SIN HAS LOST ITS GRIP OVER MY SOUL. I HAVE THE POWER TO OVERCOME!


Bible Reading Plan: John 19:1-30; Galatians 1:1-2:10; Proverbs 21


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024: THE YEAR OF ESTABLISHMENT

-
Image
Hosea‬ ‭2:23‬ ‭GNB I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper. I will show love to those who were called “Unloved”, and to those who were called “Not-my-People” I will say, “You are my people,” and they will answer, “You are our God.” The Lord is about to prosper us in all areas of our life, but He must first establish us in Him. It is until we're established in Him, our prosperity will have no root to last long. The Lord has said to us, “I will establish you.” Another area of God's establishment this year is in the area of His love. Ephesians 3:17 NIV So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love. The Lord has said to us, “I will uproot every plant that I have not planted. And get you rooted and established in My love.” (Matt. 15:13; Eph. 3:17). Falsehood will die as Truth will thrive. Every wind of doctrine will vanish, because the full knowledge of Christ will be established.  Strange practi...
Read more

DAY 22: TRUE RICHES

-
Image
 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL 30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM September 22, 2023. Topic: TRUE RICHES Bible Reading: Matthew 6:19-34 Verse for Meditation: 1 Timothy 6:6 NLT Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. About sexual temptation, if you are struggling to break free, you must first be saved so that you can be given the Holy Spirit to empower you to live above sin. But breaking free and living constantly above sin; especially sexual sins, it take discipline and consistency. You don’t stay fit on the first day you go to the gym to work out; it takes consistent exercise and discipline to achieve that, so does exercising ourselves towards godliness (1Tim. 4:7). When you fall, you need to rise again to continue with the exercise. It was a constant practice that made that sexual habit called addiction. So you need to deliberately keep at it constantly till the appetite to sin dies. Spiritual attack is real, but what we call spiritual attack is actually a lack of kn...
Read more

DAY 2: BEFORE THE FALL

-
Image
 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL 30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM September 2, 2023. Topic: MAN BEFORE THE FALL Bible Reading: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25 Verse for Meditation: Genesis 1:26a KJV And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…” Yesterday we saw that man was created in God’s image, which is deeper than just an image. This image gave man a superior position above Satan. What then is this image of God? First of all we need to understand that there is no distinct difference between the image and the likeness of God. For example in psalms 102:1, it says, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You.” You cannot use the English dictionary to explain the synonmity between cry and prayer. Same with the image and the likeness of God. The word ‘image’ in the Hebrew text is ‘tselem’, which can be referred to as a representative figure, especially an idol; a resemblance. The word ‘likeness’ as used in Genesis 1 is ‘demuth’ which can be...
Read more