Make A Game Plan Against Possible Temptation
We need to take our fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil seriously. A good athlete studies his opponents on film and replays his own defeats, trying to find moments of weakness he can learn from and strengthen.
We should be as crafty as we can formulating strategies to fight acting out on lust. Brainstorm what lies you have believed and counter them with truth. Analyze your life and common times you are susceptible to temptation, and structure your life in a way that allows you to fight back. In Christ, you are not a slave to sin but have everything you need for living a godly life and overcoming temptation .
What Is Sex Slavery
A sex slave is a person who is the property of another person, and that owner forces the slave to obey them by performing sex acts, usually for money. Sex slavery is sex trafficking, which includes acquiring, transporting, and exploiting sex slaves.
Most prostituted women are sex slaves. Often a pimp physically and psychologically abuses prostituted women to coerce them to continue committing commercial sex acts. Sometimes people abduct children and adolescent women and force them into prostitution. Most women who enter prostitution have already been sexually abused. Prostituted women are often girls or adolescent women who are insecure and become emotionally traumatized and view themselves as worthless.
Be Accountable To Other Believers
One of the lies that sin can make us believe is that we are alone with nobody to help us. God has given us the church and the opportunity to have spiritual friends who can help us in our fight against sin. Pray for godly accountability that will drive you away from sin to the Savior. Look into accountability programs like Covenant Eyes that can help you be accountable, but realize an email report does not take the place of life-on-life accountability or remove your sinful desires.
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Why Does The Bible Condemn Porneia So Strongly
Sexual immorality goes right against Gods plan for sexuality. God designed sexuality as something for a man and a woman within marriage. Moreover, it is directly related to having children. Sexuality, therefore, is not only a matter of lust, but also a matter of love and having children together. This loving relationship between husband and wife is very precious in Gods eyes.
The apostle Paul even says it reflects the relationship between Jesus and the church: This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church . Marriage is designed by God to portray Christ. Sexual immorality damages this holy portrait.
Married Couples Should Have It Often
Queen Victoria famously instructed the Christian ladies in her realm to Lie back and think of the Empire a view of sex that seems pessimistic and pragmatic in the extreme. Thankfully the Bible presents a very different view. In addition to the goodness, generosity, and reciprocity mentioned above, the Scriptures also recommend a level of frequency that many modern Bible readers find quite surprising.
The Apostle Paul told his people:
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
At most, married couples could set aside a few days for dedicated prayer and spiritual observance only if both parties were in agreement but then they must come together quickly lest they be tempted to sexual immorality.
As in the Old Testament, so in the New, frequent marital intercourse is prescribed as a guard against a wandering eye and a lustful heart. The assumption is that if we drink deeply from our own cisterns we will be less tempted to draw from our neighbours well. There is great wisdom and great joy in following this inspired instruction.
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What The Bible Says
For instance, the Bible pointedly states that when a married man keeps on looking at a woman to whom he is not married, nurturing a desire to have sex with her, it can lead to adultery. The principle behind this Bible statement would apply to anyone, married or single, who keeps on looking at pornographic images with the desire to engage in sexual immorality. Such behavior is clearly offensive to God.
Husbands Owe It To Wives
Many historians think that the most surprising thing the Bible says about sex is found in 1 Corinthians 7:3-4:
the husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
One scholar, for example, puts it this way:
The marked mutuality of Pauls comments was, however, revolutionary in the ancient world where patriarchy was the norm. For the husband to have authority over his wifes body was nothing special. Pauls following statement affirming the reverse, that the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does, clearly pointed to a radical and unprecedented restriction on the husbands sexual freedom. It communicates, negatively, his obligation to refrain from engaging in sexual relations with anyone other than his wife and, positively, his obligation to fulfill his marital duty to provide her with sexual pleasure and satisfaction.
The idea that sex was to be mutual and that the husband owed it to his wife and that the wife had a right to claim it from the husband was revolutionary! It was unprecedented! No one had ever said anything like this, anywhere else in the ancient world.
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Surprising Things That The Bible Says About Sex
The Bible is a book about God, about us, and about how God saves us through the person and work of Jesus Christ therefore, it isnt terribly surprising to discover that the Bible has a great deal to say about sex. Human beings are sexual creatures God made us male and female therefore the story of creation, fall, and redemption is necessarily, at least in part, a story about human sexuality.
Parts of that story are relatively well known, but other parts can be quite unexpected even shocking to the first time Bible reader. Among the most surprising revelations would be the following:
Its Not Just About The Kids
You dont have to read very far in the Bible to discover the connection between sexuality and procreation. In the very first chapter of the very first book it says:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.
God made them male and female and he told them to be fruitful and multiply. The message seems rather obvious: having and raising godly babies is part of how we exercise dominion over the earth.
Thats true, but it isnt the end of the story it isnt even the start of the story! In fact, the first thing that God says about a human being in the Book of Genesis is that: It is not good that the man should be alone I will make him a helper fit for him .
Human beings are intended to resemble and represent God therefore the man ought to have a complementary and co-equal partner. Therefore God created Eve from a rib taken from Adams side. The Bible goes on to say:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Done right, under blessing, it often results in children, but it isnt ultimately for that. It is for the glory of God and the comfort of mankind. Thats a subtle and yet very significant distinction.
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Remove Sources Of Temptation
Fighting our sinful habits means not leaving provision for our flesh and removing sources of temptation . In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus illustrated the importance of this with the hyperbolic command to tear out your eye if it causes you to sin . This could mean setting up filters on your computer, phone, or TV, and throwing out anything that stirs up your flesh. Dont tolerate your sin any more than you would tolerate an armed killer living in your house. You are weak and need to lay straight paths for your feet so that in a moment of weakness you can stand firm in Gods strength.
Be killing sin or it will be killing you. John Owen
What Does The Bible Say About Porneia
The Bible is very clear here:
- But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality , or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for Gods holy people .
- Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral , nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God .
- Flee from sexual immorality . Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? .
- Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Porneia is a sin, it excludes people from Gods Kingdom, and therefore Jesus followers should stay away from it.
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Live In The Power Of The Holy Spirit
God doesnt leave us in our battle for sin alone but gives us the greatest possible resource to fight against sin: His Spirit within us. Romans 8:13 says, For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Walking in step with the Spirit will set your mind on spiritual things and not rely on your own strength and wisdom in battling sin.
Cry Out To God For Grace To Change
Apart from the grace of God, we are powerless to turn from sinful habits. Psalm 34:17 says, When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. If you find yourself burdened by the sin of lust, cry out to God for deliverance and the grace to change. Christ can give you a new heart, restored joy, a clean and restored conscience. True change cannot happen apart from Gods grace, so as you continue to read, pray for Gods grace to apply these principles.
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What The Bible Really Says About Sex
Sex is a selfish act, a conquest of personal fulfillment.Thats the mindset of most people in our culture regarding sexeven if its only subconscious. For the most part, our society celebrates the process of hook up, shack up, and break up.All you have to do is take a moment to observe the way sex is communicated in our culture.Thousands of articles are churned out on how to cope with a past of multiple partners and how to find the next one.
Thankfully, he also adds, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” .The point is this: as humans, we’re all sinners and all in need of God’s grace, given freely through Jesus. And apart from Jesus, we all pervert God’s good gifts, such as sex.Thankfully, God is also merciful and loving. This is why he sent us Jesus to save us from our sin, and it is also why he gave us the Bible to help us understand his plan for a life that honors him and as a result leads to true fulfillment.The Bible has a lot to say about sexincluding that it’s good and that it glorifies God when we enjoy sex in the context for which He created it.So, I thought I’d share seven sex essentials from the Bible that my wife Grace and I included in our new book, “Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together”:
” was released on , and is available now.