I don't know why I have avoided writing on this particular topic. I guess to me it is a typical and cliché topic in the church, but for some reason I am led to write on it. I know the captivity of sexual urges and strange emotions of perversion too well. Even in the church many struggle in secret. I have come to realize that some teach to accept sexual urges and strange feelings as a part of our 'humanity'. However, how then does one minister to a Christian who struggles with homosexual urges and thoughts? Should that one accept that as a part of their humanity also?
I think a good tell tale sign that something is wrong is that our conscience convicts us when we have these urges. The only reason we even say we 'struggle' with sexual urges is because we are fighting against it. However if it is simply a part of our humanity, or if it is simply proof we are alive, why does our conscience still condemn us for it? Why do we seek counsel to get rid of them?
We must admit that there is something in us that tells us that these urges ought not to be. In my experience in church and as a minister, this is one of the most questioned topics among the youth. I however want to give hope in this area of the Christian life, which seems to be so taboo.
In this post I will be going straight to the point, that you may see and understand how to overcome these emotions forever and never struggle again. Many people say that everyone struggles with sexual emotions, but that is a lie, God always has a remnant unto Himself to prove His word.
First of all we must agree the GOD IS SIMPLE. In face He is very simple. He is so simple He becomes a mystery to many. I will deal with this at the root
"NOBODY IS PERFECT/ONCE WE ARE IN THESE BODIES YOU WILL SIN"
I have come to know that the teaching of this doctrine has such a powerful stronghold on the people of God. THIS DOCTRINE IS A GREAT LIE! The reason I must go here, for us to understand how to be freed from sexual urges is because we must see the effect that this doctrine has on us.
Well we came from the bondage of sin having received the Holy Ghost, only to hear that because we are not perfect we will one day return to it. We came into this great salvation only to hear that we are the dogs the scripture speaks of that will one day return to his vomit. Sons of God, but dogs. Why? - Because nobody is perfect, and once we are in these bodies we will one day sin.
We have to look at the implications of this doctrine. Let us not measure sin, all sin is sin and is on the same level. With that said, we have to look at what we imply when we preach once we are in these bodies we will always sin. What we actually imply is when the murderer is saved, because he is never actually free from sin, it is a great possibility that he will return to murdering. The rapist will always rape, the liar will always lie. The harlot will always sell herself short. We preach a hopeless gospel.
Anyway, getting back on track here, when we preach that one day we will sin, the effect it will have on the people is that they will eventually allow sin in their lives. This creates such instability. Have you ever been to a church, and notice the people are faithful to church work but when you entertain the church mothers, they are mean and full of gossip. The young men are flirts, and the young women are lascivious. The pastors, may be after money and the things of this world.
What else is there to hope for when all you hear is that one day you will sin anyway. One day you will fall. What do you preach, how do you prevent people falling away from the church and losing faith in Christianity? The truth is you can't once this doctrine is preached. The only thing will create a powerful church is the preaching of the truth with true demonstrations of the power of God. Automatically I know where our minds went with that one. But when I said the power of God, right there I was not speaking to signs and wonders even though they are technically included, but the greatest power of God, is holiness.
God is able to make any man holy and keep him holy.
Jud 1:24
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
God is not shy about this matter. He professes the power to keep us holy and spotless until we see His face. It is only if we have allowed Him to do this will we see His face in peace.
The point I make here is that we must change our perspective. If we believe that we must sin someway or somehow, then we will allow ourselves to think wrong and then we will make provision to sin. However what we will find is that our conscience will never agree with sin. We will always feel condemned when we sin. Why because it is no longer our nature to sin. We are of a divine nature and a divine nature only. We were created perfect and God gave us the ability to never sin again
The doctrine Nobody is Perfect is more commonly called the doctrine of Dual Nature. I discuss that doctrine more in depth in my post The Gift to the World, explaining the scriptures used in defence of the doctrine and explaining them in context go check it out.
With that said.
Mat 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
The reality of salvation is that it enables us to walk in holiness even as Jesus did. After all He is within us. We tend to blame our flesh as the reason for our sins. But there are a couple things that we fail to realize.
Firstly we forget that the body is inanimate without the soul. It has no life of its own. It has no feelings nor emotions of its own. The body is a vehicle of expression for the soul. It is the soul that produces emotions and feelings and lusts, and cravings - not the body. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (Jam 2:26).
Secondly, we must think about the fact that Jesus was also in a human body. The scriptures let us know that he learned obedience by the things he suffered (Heb 5:8). He was indeed touched with the feeling of our infirmity, he had a human body and yet without sin.
Question
"There must have been something different about his body then, after all He was not born of a man, He was born of God by a virgin - Jesus was God"
Well let us consider this.
Jn 3:3-6
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The scripture explains something here. It lets us know that in order to be saved we must be born again. It is clear here that when you are born again you are no longer born of flesh and blood but you are born of the Spirit of God. So then let us look at this. At your first birth, you were born of flesh, meaning you came forth from your mother and experienced life. But this second birth is not of a woman, but it is of God. God raises you from the dead at salvation and enters your body, causing it to be reborn. Therefore in order to be born again - both the soul and the body must be reborn.
I am feeling a bit redundant here, I have done a series on Salvation explaining what truly happens at salvation. It is called the Salvation Series. It starts from the garden of Eden and continues up to today's date.
Part 1 - deals with the make up of Adam before his fall. (made perfect and sinless)
Part 2 - deals with the make up of Adam after he sinned (body became sinful and soul held captive)
Part 3 - emphasizes the need to be saved
Part 4 - deals with the make up of Jesus (He had a different body than Adam's even though it was human)
Part 5 - deals with atonement (how Jesus took away our sins)
Part 6 - deals with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (What happened after Jesus' death and how He was resurrected)
Part 7 - how are we saved? (explaining how Jesus sacrificed made it possible for us to be saved)
Part 8 - deals with the operation of salvation (a step by step outline of what occurs at salvation)
So long and short of it. Parts 1, 2, 4, and 8 would be perfect for you to understand and agree with the rest of this post. The Salvation Series serves as a foundation for most of the posts on this blog.
So lets get on with it.
SEXUAL EMOTIONS
Its no secret that many Christians today struggle with them. Well let us think about this in light of all scriptures
Gal 5:24
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Well the scripture lets us know that if we have the Holy Ghost, our bodies have already been crucified with the lusts of the flesh and unlawful emotions. With that said we can come to three (3) conclusions.
If I am experiencing these urges then it might be a possibility that:
1. I do not have the Holy Ghost.
This may seem harsh, but it is something we ought to all think about. The Holy Ghost gives us the power over sin. He changes our sentiments from one that takes pleasure in sin to one that delights in righteousness. When you are saved your conscience will never agree with sin. You will also find it very difficult to take pleasure in sin (from the heart). However if you are not saved, you are freed from righteousness
Rom 6:19-20
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Before salvation we had no true knowledge of righteousness until we were taught. Our conscience would only warn us against things we perceived were moral but even our conscience was freed from righteousness. This is why our conscience had to be purged as well at salvation (Heb 9:14).
If one does not have the Holy Ghost the scripture says that there is a law of sin working in their body. When they would do good, evil is present. That when they would want to perform that which is righteous, they cannot because sin works in them. Sin resides in the human bodies of the unsaved, and its purpose is to keep such a one from righteousness. The law of sin produces in the flesh what is called - evil concupiscence, which is an insatiable urge for sin. These cravings cannot be satisfied and hence the soul is held captive by them.
In order for this soul to please God it must be delivered from this body.
Rom 7:24
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He delivers us when he crucified us with him at salvation
Gal 2:20
I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 5:24
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
In short. If you do not have the Holy Ghost, you do not have the power over sin. There is a spirit that dwells in your body called the spirit of bondage. The spirit of bondage is the devil. When the devil is in the flesh he dictates the sin he wants to perform through the body. Jesus said it this way.
Jn 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do...
If he desires to manifest his lust of homosexuality he will do it through the flesh of the unsaved, and the soul of that particular body can do nothing about it because it is bound. If the devil decides to be a fornicator in the flesh, he will a body to do so. If he decides to be a paedophile he will use the body of a grown man (or woman) to do so. If he decides to be an alcoholic, a rapist, a murderer, a thief, a masturbator, a pimp, if he desires bestiality, whatever sin it is, he will use the body of the unsaved to do it. That is why we all needed Jesus, to be finally set free from sin.
Therefore if you are having strong cravings that go against God's word, it may be that you do not have the Holy Ghost. If you want to be delivered from them, get under God's word and it will purify you and most importantly seek God for the Holy Spirit so that you can be delivered from sin once and for all.
2. I have the Holy Ghost, but do not believe the word of God.
As I said before God is very simple.
This is a biggy here. Let us look at all that God has done at salvation. This is where part 8 of the Salvation Series really kicks in.
Eph 4:22-24
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
We have put of the old man which is the body of sin. The body we had before salvation, with all its lust and evil concupiscence. And have put on the new man who is made in righteousness and true holiness.
The new man is the Holy Spirit in the flesh. The new man is Jesus Christ. Let me say it one more time. JESUS IS IN THE FLESH. This same body that we often blame for sin, it is actually Jesus'. It is the place He lives. Jesus is a human again by way of our bodies. So then we cannot blame the bodies, because they are holy. What then is the problem?
Jam 1:13-14
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God:for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
It is not our bodies that tempt us to sin, the bodies have no power of their own and it is God who has them alive by His presence within them. The nature of the body is determined by the spirit that is in it. When we were unsaved the nature of the body was sinful and devilish, but now that we are saved the body has a divine nature, because it is born of God.
Therefore in a practical sense, it is not the body that produces these urges and temptations we feel. The body is simply a vessel! But it is the soul that creates his own lust. Our souls are the real us. The scripture says that when we are tempted to sin, it is because the soul considered sin and agreed with the suggestion of sin. In other words, sin enticed the soul.
Here the power of the gospel is revealed
Pro 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...
This is strongly grounded in the concept of belief. Let me say this off the bat, belief is not a hard task as some make it to be. In fact it is quite simple. Also there are no levels of believe, it is either we believe or we do not. Our thoughts are at the root of our beliefs. In fact it is our thoughts and actions that serve as proof of our beliefs.
As a man thinketh so is he. If the soul believes or thinks that he is a Son of God trapped in a body of sin, then he will begin to struggle with sin. He will develop his own sin to be tempted with. He will produce emotions in his flesh and begin to fight against them.
However if one believes that he is a son of God, and free from sin by the new man, then that is exactly what he will experience - Freedom.
The mind is a powerful thing. The root of all sin, is wrong thinking.
When I believe the Word that says that all the lusts of the flesh have already been crucified with Christ, then I can rest in assurance that this body is not sinful and will not betray me by sinning against me.
Rom 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
God doesn't want us fearing sin, so he didn't give us the spirit of the devil with the law of sin and death again. He gave us the Holy Spirit - a sinless Spirit. He placed the Holy Ghost within our flesh, now it cannot sin (1 John 3:9). Now if our souls desire sin, we will use our bodies to do so, but in doing so we actually sin against our body because our bodies are now of a divine nature.
1Co 6:18
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
We must believe the word. We are already free. We do not have to pray and fast for it. We have to believe that we have already received our freedom. It is a state of being. But it is because of what we have learnt and believe have caused us to believe that we could never be free. Let us free ourselves from that mindset. This is more than a declaration this is a matter of reality. Now we live in the Spirit (Gal 5:25). Let us not confuse ourselves to think that we are always bound to sin. We are indeed free.
There is such power in unbelief. Unbelief plagues many who may struggle with homosexuality in the church. The devil wants us to believe it is more complex than simply our belief in what Christ has already done in us. But this is the simplicity of God! He have you Jesus Christ that you might never have to sin again. If you believe and have the Holy Ghost the root of the problem is found in the third possibility.
3. I have the Holy Ghost, but I desire sin.
These feelings are produced by the soul and experienced by the flesh. It is after we produce these feelings we then begin trying to fight against them. But if we are totally honest here we will say that the only reason there is a fight is because a part of us really wants to experience the pleasure of sex. The fight isn't against the fact that my body is getting aroused, but it is against the fact that at the moment I want to use my body to have sex.
Without a doubt the devil is real. He has the ability to tempt us, with suggestions. However for a set of people that love to step on him and trample on him all day we give him too much power. That is the extent of his power against us. He can merely suggest that we do something, whether we do it or not is based on our desires.
Consider Jesus.
Mat 4:2-4
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
The devil came tempting Jesus from the outside (he was not inside of him) and suggesting that he eat. Note that Jesus was hungry however His in his heart he was repulsed by the thought of obeying the devil. He knew that was sin and he should only obey the words from the mouth of God. At that moment Jesus could have decided that he was hungry and said, to himself "well, its not sin to be hungry and my fast is already up, let me do it". (Thank God He didn't) He rather, did not allow the suggestions of the devil to entice him. He did not allow what the devil said to incite lust in him. He was not enticed by his words. This is our example
When the devil brings suggestions to our mind, we must never agree with him. We must be repulsed by what is not godly. But we must hate sin before the suggestion comes, in order to manifest Christ. We must be in fellowship and agreement with God.
If I am tempted with sexual urges, it is because I have come to a place where I am not in agreement with God's will for sex. At that moment I want sex outside of marriage and am in disagreement with God and his will that says sex is within the boundaries of marriage.
This is the root of it all - disagreement with God. I must agree with God's will and way in order to manifest Christ. This is not a hard thing either. It is the delights of our heart to do so.
The devil fights us in our minds. He doesn't want us to believe how easy it is to be free from sin. We simply need to accept what God already did for us at salvation. It doesn't matter what we have done and for how long after we were saved, the moment we accept this truth and walk in it, you will come to know the power of it.
Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
This salvation is powerful. If you believe it. You have put on the new man who is Jesus Christ in the flesh. He is in you for this very reason. Walking holy is simply a choice that we all must agree to do, this is love in God's eyes (John 14:15).
We must purify our hearts from all unlawful desires we may have and then believe the scripture. IT IS WHEN WE BELIEVE THE POWER OF GOD WILL BE LOOSED WITHIN US.
As a man thinketh so is he.
When you think of yourself, see a holy son of God in whom God dwells, who has already overcome sin. When tempted of the devil simply say no and tada, you have a sinless life.
I love you, truly.
- Kareem Flowers
An apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 10:45
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