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Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms*. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
*There are 4 spiritual levels: Rulers (chief heads of Satan), Authorities (has little authority, and are under the Rulers), Powers (the Greek word where it is from translated is Kosmokrator. Kosmo means World, Krator means Rulers, World Rulers. So these are the Rulers of the World) Spiritual forces (evil spirits underneath us)
Stand firm is mentioned more than ones. Paul wants to tell us that we have to “Stand firm” Standing is not going backwards. We never retried, never give ground away. We stand, stand and stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.
The belt of truth is God. God is Truth, God is speaking truth in his word (Logos) (John 17-17, then by the truth: your word is truth), where do you put that truth? Around your waist. Waist or Loins is a not offending translation from the Greek word Osphus which means gentiles, sexual organs, sexual practices or just your sex life. You have to put your sex life under Gods truth.
What type of truth are we talking about? Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure (marriage bed is bad translation from the Greek word that means intercourse), for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
God want that your sex life is pure, if you do not, God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral!
Many people struggle with sexually immorality. (masturbation, pornografity, lust, even movies, music clips, advertisements and commercials use sex to get attention) God wants that we are pure without sexual immorality.
Romans 13.13 “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.”
Can you say this: “that is what I was?” Or is it “that is what I am” If you say “that is what I am” you have a problem. Make that decision that you say “I won’t doing it any longer from now on, no more and go forward from there, because Jesus has cleansed us from all our sins, and you are washed in his blood. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. “Everything is permissible for me” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” (this means not only appetite for food but also sexual appetite that God has given us as a gift) but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Galatians 5:19-21”The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God”
It starts with sexual things and end with sexual things, so it has to be important that God does not want that we have a impure sex life.
I Tessalonians 4:3-5 “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified (cleaned up before God): that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body, in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God” New International Version
“That every one of you should know how to posses his vessel in sanctification and honour” King James Version
The old translation for body is vessel. In other manuscripts is written “learn to live with his own wife; or learn to acquire a wife” Acquire means to take. Vessel is used in the Greek language when you speak of a woman as a marriage partner of a man because she receives the sperm, she is the vessel that receives. So there is actually written “That every one of you should learn to control his seed or should learn to take a wife” How do you do this in purity? The sexual appetite that God has given us in the most pure way, how do we use that?
People say man are animals and thinking about one thing, it is true but not for those who are pure before God in there sex life. Sexual thoughts starts in the mind, man are visually oriented and woman can control the mans mind in the wrong directions. A woman has sexually power over a man and can control a man completely for example when a woman says to her husband: “Well……..it’s gonna be cold in bed for you tonight” We have to be careful with this. Also how we dress. And don’t think the more clothes a woman puts on how better, this is not true, because the mans mind is visual and sometimes a woman with clothes on is more sensual for a man then a woman in shorts. The bible says dress modestly. Just watch yourself with everything you do or see.
What is Gods will with our sex life?
1 Corinthians 7:1-8 “Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.” This means the fulfillment of your sex life. “The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.”.
Everybody understands what Paul meant by the word “gift”. It is a gift from God to your wife, and it is a gift from God to your husband. God want us to deliver a gift of love making, sustains that the love is given in the most approval and pure way. This means that you never would do anything that makes the other feel dirty before God.
1 Peter 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker vessel (NIV translated vessel for partner) which means she which receives) and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
A deeper going translation of the word weaker in Greek is: just be sensitive of your wife’s sexually needs.
If we want to be used and prepared for the battle than use your sex life only in the way that God wants us that we use it. Because than, we can be pure for God and Satan hates it. Only then we have the victory. We have victory over our sexual immorality.
So put on the belt of truth buckled around your waist.
This is a very basic part to take spiritual warfare to the streets.
