OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28TH 2017- PREVENTING FORNICATION 

Memorise: “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:2
Read: 1st Corinthians 7:1-9
1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.
Bible in one year: Ecclesiastes 4-7, Malachi 1

1. Yesterday, the Lord spoke to us about His intention for Christian homes not just to add the population of the earth through procreation, but to produce children that meet heaven’s specification of a godly seed, who will represent God everywhere they go and obey Him to the letter. May your homes produce such godly seed in Jesus’ Name!
2. Another reason why God established the institution of marriage is to prevent fornication. 1st Corinthians 7:2 says, “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”
3. This scripture speaks of the need for husband and wife to be intimate so as not to fall into the pit of sexual immorality.
4. It is common in some homes today for the wife to deny her husband intimacy just because he has not fulfilled certain requests she made, or for the husband to deny his wife intimacy because he is not happy with her. This is at variance with God’s expectation and an abuse of the purpose of sexual intimacy.
5. It is wrong to use sex as a tool for punishing your spouse.
6. People should learn to isolate issues and not mix them up.
7. Neither the Husband nor the Wife has the power to deny sexual intimacy except it is a temporal arrangement, for the purpose of prayer and fasting, and this must be by mutual consent.
8. Denial of sexual intimacy is viewed as fraud from God’s perspective (1st Corinthians 7:4-5).
9. Both the wife and the husband should strive towards fulfilling the godly sexual desires of their spouse. This is necessary because it is one way the couple will be protected from the hawks outside their home.
10. It is only a foolish woman who will give conditions for intimacy.
11. When you starve your spouse of intimacy, you expose him to external dangers and temptations.
12. Some women who are married to Pastors and ministers of God take it for granted that their husbands can never go out of their matrimonial homes, and as a result, they begin to deny them sexual intimacy at will. Going by recent realities, such women may get the shock of their lives!
13. There are those who use spirituality as basis for starving their spouses. I don’t suppose such people can be more spiritual than Apostle Paul, who wrote the admonition in 1st Corinthians 7:4-5. Some of these people are almost always fasting and praying. Please control your fast before you cause irreparable damage to your home.

Glory to God for such powerful and educative devotional. Many couples have failed in this regard for several times, but thank God for exposing the works of the devil in our marriages in this devotional. Some of us even hide under Spirituality and deny our partners sex for several months simply because of misunderstanding, as we can see, it’s ungodly as stated in the devotional “Both the wife and the husband should strive towards fulfilling the godly sexual desires of their spouse. This is necessary because it is one way the couple will be protected from the hawks outside their home”. Let’s be wise in our marriages and not self invite the devil to manipulate it by depriving each other rights. God bless Pastor E.A Adeboye in Jesus name.

Prayer Point
Father, uproot every spirit of immorality causing married people in my local assembly to be unfaithful to their spouses.
HYMN
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
Homes where the Master’s will is sought,
Homes crowned with beauty
Thy love hath wrought;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the father is true and strong,
Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,
Homes that are joyful with love and song;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the mother, in caring quest,
Strives to show others Thy way is best,
Homes where the Lord is an honored guest;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the children are led to know
Christ in His beauty who loves them so,
Homes where the altar fires burn and glow;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!

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