IDENTITY 6. Temptations of women and men!

Jesus Followers – Navigating the Year 2024

Was this start of taking Physical and Spiritual Inventory difficult for you? As we identify with Jesus and choose to walk in the power of The Holy Spirit to be a witness to this last dark generation, we MUST rid ourselves of ALL of these worldly roadblocks.

OUR MOTIVATION IN THIS HOUR IS TO PLEASE OUR LORD JESUS AND NOT TO LET SATAN DISQUALIFY US IN ANY AREA.

“Holy Spirit reveal the things in our lives that slow down (or maybe even stop) our spiritual maturity, then give us the power to cut these things out of our lives and break their power!”

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit…Galatians 5:16

As we take inventory, think if we have any physical thing in our car, our bedroom, our apartment or our house that causes you to think on or act out any of the following “works of the flesh” we need to repent in prayer and then we need to get rid of them. (We may need a mature spiritual friend at this point to help us pray through). No shame here!

*NOTE – Don’t sell these evil items to someone else, get rid of them by breaking, burning and getting them into the trash! Did you notice the first four things Paul addresses in the works of the flesh verses all deal with the powerful stronghold of sexual immorality?

THIS IS A WAR!

Satan has taken the most beautiful moments of a Godly marriage and reduced them down to a selfish narcissistic act of self-pleasure, meaning there is no giving involved, only taking. But that’s not all; none of these things are “neutral” or operate on a level playing field. For both women and men you need to understand that Satan has a well thought out plan for your destruction.

MEN – understand that there are some women who operate in a powerful, seductive “demonic spirit of fornication”. Most don’t even need to look pretty as that spirit seduces you; it is like a lamb to the slaughter. In a hypnotized state your boundaries drop and you become powerless. This can happen at the club or at your church, no place is off limits to this seducer. Many divorces have been caused with the woman inappropriately dressed on a Sunday morning at the latte’ stand before service.

WOMEN – understand that the same powerful, seductive “demonic spirit of fornication” operates in men also. The deception to look for is men who tempt you with the idea that they love you but are really breaking down your boundaries until you give in to sex. It is a fact that as soon as sex enters a premarital relationship with no lifelong commit, everything becomes about the sex.

SOME ADVICE FROM A FATHER IN THE FAITH ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

1. There is no such thing in the Bible as dating; only courting. That means if you are “dating” a person just to have fun or someone to be your plus one at a wedding you are just looking to be tempted in this area of sex. This has nothing to do with being old fashion; this has everything to do with saving your soul. I know it is hard because today a man may want to have a social life and maybe just play football with the guys and then discover that all of the guys you are playing with are not actually guys. Ladies in the same way may hang out with the gals and go swimming only to be shocked that one tries to kiss you. This is real, this is a war and Satan wants to destroy you.

2. I have discovered a great place for social gathering is a small group serving in some capacity: a food drive, helping a widow neighbor paint her house, organizing a block party for all the kids in the neighborhood. Another place would be in taking a class that you are interested in: pottery, painting, woodworking, even a small group studying a subject in the Bible.

3. Concerning looking for a person you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with you must first know what you are offering, not what you are getting. Both men and women need to know who they are, what you are passionate about, what is your view of God and eternity, what your gifts and talents are before you could ever ask another to join you on your journey. Even though a spouse will help you finish healing from an injustice in your past, you can’t choose them for that selfish reason alone. It is just not fair to the other person if ask them to marry you if you can’t verbalize who and what they are committing to. You must come with the motivation to give everything you have AND TAKE NOTHING.

CONCLUSION – spend your time wisely to prepare yourself: body, mind, spirit, socially, financially, and to the best of your ability, understand what your path of the future looks like.

Remember we are still working on taking inventory; walking in the power of The Holy Spirit and embracing the fact that we identify ourselves with Jesus! I know we just got started on ridding our home from the things that cause us to stumble concerning sexual immorality so I will leave the following up for a few more blogs.

SEXUAL IMMORALITY

• Adultery is a sexual or emotional relationship with someone other than your spouse, which violates God’s commandment and destroys your marriage. Comes Greek word — the word porneia. When referring to a woman who has committed adultery, the New Testament used the word pornos. This is the word for a prostitute. Not just a professional prostitute but also one who traded her heart, her body, or her emotions for romance, for emotional support. For the man God says his action is equivalent to seeking a prostitute for a cheap and dirty thrill.
• Fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons. It includes premarital sex, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. God warns that fornication is a sin against oneself and leads to judgment. Also come from the same Greek word — the word porneia.

I must point out that the word pornography comes from this same Greek word. In fact, pornography is from the Greek word pornos (the same word used above for an adulteress or a prostitute) and from the word grapho, which means to write. This means that when an individual meditates on the writings or the photography contained in pornography, it is the equivalent of committing mental prostitution. Such a definition sheds new light on what Jesus said in Matthew 5:28: “But I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

• Uncleanness – which will lead us to an unclean spirit. This word refers to lewd or unclean thoughts that eventually produce lewd or unclean actions. As it is used in the Gospels and Paul’s epistles, it strongly suggests that these actions begin in the mind as unclean thoughts before they manifest as unclean deeds.

Mark 1:23 says, “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.…” The Greek actually says that this man was “gripped by the control of an unclean spirit.” It seems this man had pondered on lewd thoughts for so long that he had thrown open the door for these thoughts to seize and control him, so that eventually he found himself “in the clutch” of an unclean spirit.

• Lasciviousness – As Paul continues listing the works of the flesh, he next mentions “lasciviousness.” This strange word comes from the Greek word aselgeia. This Greek word describes excess, but it primarily refers to the excessive consumption of food or wild, undisciplined living that is especially marked by unbridled sex. The word aselgeia is listed as the principal sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah(see 2 Peter 2:6)and the reason that God overthrew them.

It must be noted again that the word aselgeia also refers to the excessive consumption of food. This means that in God’s mind, it is just as perverted to overindulge in food as it is to engage in sinful sexual activities!

All of the works of the flesh can be forgiven — but before forgiveness comes, sin must be acknowledged. This is why we must understand exactly what these words mean. Once sin is comprehended, it can then be repented of and confessed. This is God’s requirement.

If you have fallen into any of these works of the flesh, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see these sins as He sees them. Once you get a revelation of His perspective, you won’t want to be the same! You’ll understand the grossness of sin in God’s sight, and you will want to be changed!

Once you confess your sin, God will forgive you and you can move on with your life. If your actions have violated your spouse or anyone else, pray for God’s mighty grace to be upon them to forgive you. Then begin to take whatever steps are necessary to make that relationship healthier than ever before.

Dear friend, God is with you, and He wants to change your life. Open your heart and let the Holy Spirit be your Helper. He wants to help you get clean, get free, and become morally strong and stable. With His help, you can do it!

OK, I KNOW THIS WAS A BIG CHUNK BUT SATAN WANTS TO DISQUALIFY YOU FROM THE RACE SO WE NEED TO GET AHEAD OF HIM!

Now let’s inventory – What items do you have in your possession that would encourage the above works of the flesh?

1. Removing Pornography of any kind:

• Magazines, books, DVDs, subscriptions to video sites on your phone, tablet TV or computer.

2. Removing all contact information of:

• Ungodly relationships either real or fantasy, from your social media or address book and block all incoming calls of past perverted relationships.
• Destroy photos, posters or any “artwork” that brings about a tempting thought.
• Consciously driving different routes home that don’t go by places you have sinned: bars, strip joints, massage parlors, even exercise gyms.

3. Side things that breakdown your God given filters which will lead to undisciplined living that is especially marked by excessive consumption.

• Stress or reward eating, smoking, alcohol, self-medicating drugs

4. Idols, habits and words:

• Physical idols, statues, art, jewelry, charms, a piece of clothing or books from another country that represent a sexual god or deity or sexual “toys”. Even gifts from “friends” can carry an unwanted demonic power.
• Mentally changing your habits of the FIRST place you look at when you see a woman/man. If they bend over in front of you look the other way.
• Stop using vulgar sexual words and phrases that conjure the demonic and lead to unacceptable images.

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