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REAL
TALK…IS YOUR “NO” STRONG ENOUGH?
By
Evangelist Garlena L. Hines
I vividly remember when
I was a child I would ask my mother for
things I knew may not be given to me. There
were times she would say “no” and then later
change her mind. Other times she would say
“no” and give me an explanation. Then there
were times she was adamant with her “no” and
I knew that it was a definite NO and I
should not ask again. As single Christians
we are faced with many challenges as we
stand on the word of God. One of the many
challenges we have is the desire to remain
celibate while waiting for God to send us a
spouse. What we must understand is that our
bodies are made for sexual pleasure inside
the confines of marriage. Once a man and a
woman commit to marriage, what consummates
the marriage is the act of sexual
intercourse. The problem many of us face is
the fact we’ve been sexually active prior to
salvation and now we have to place those
desires under subjection of the word. It
can become a great struggle and I pray this
article will help you if you are struggle.
Regardless of what the
media or others say, fornication is not
God’s will for our lives. The Apostle Paul
addresses this issue in I Corinthians 6:18 “Flee
from sexual immorality. All other sins a
man commits are outside of his body, but he
who sins sexually sins against his own body”.
Paul is saying your “No” has to be
strong enough to flee fornication. In order
to do this, we must stay in constant prayer,
read the word and, at times, fast in order
to keep that flesh in place. Many of us
will not be able to flee fornication until
we have a desire to do so. There are so
many believers who are entangled in sexual
sin and have justified their actions. There
is never a justification for going against
the word of God. While sexual sin is
against our own body, we must fully
understand that ALL sin is against the word
of God. At the end of the day, I want to
know that God is pleased with my walk. How
strong is your “no” against this sin?
Prior to Paul
encouraging us to flee fornication he gives
us consequences surrounding the danger of
sexual immorality. We’ve heard our parents
say, “When you are sexually active with
someone you are engaging with everyone they
have been with.” That’s more so true in the
spiritual sense and it’s called
“transferring of spirits.” I Corinthians
6:16 states “Do
you not know that he who united himself with
ah prostitute is one with her in body?”
Now remember, the church of Corinth was a
very carnal church and they were known for
sexual immorality with prostitutes. There
was one incident where a man was intimate
with his mother-in-law. There were no
boundaries with their sexual immorality. So
do not limit this verse to mean that there’s
only a transferring of spirits with
prostitutes, but if you are engaging with
someone who you are not married to (the two
shall become ONE) then you become one with
that person. In my younger years, I
confused sex with love; therefore, I had
many partners. Every time I gave my body to
be used, I was becoming one with that man.
Until one day I realized that I had so many
different spirits inside that I was unsure
of who I was. My “no” was not strong at all
and I will even say, no was not a part of my
vocabulary when it came to men, because I
did not know the value of my worth. What is
the weight of your no?
In I Corinthians 7:2,
Paul continues to say “For it is not good
for a man to touch a woman unless that’s his
wife to avoid fornication.” Singles, this
is where I believe many of us get into
trouble. When we deal with the physical
body, there’s a good touch- meaning someone
who is comforting us as in the case of
grief. There’s something we call a bad
touch – meaning if someone is abusing us
physically or playing with us rough. Then
there’s a sexual touch. This is the touch
that many have fallen prey to. Every
individual has a weak spot that will arouse
us sexually and once that spot is tampered
with then it’s possible to allow our desires
to be free. It may be with a kiss on the
neck, a touch on the knee, an inappropriate
hug and before we know it, we’ve fallen into
the sin of fornication.
Singles, hear me good.
I am single and have not had a relationship
in the last 18 years. I know how hard it
can be, I know the struggle, I know when the
desire seems stronger than the scripture I
just read, but what keeps me is my
relationship with Christ. Because He died on
Calvary that I may be free, then it’s my
desire to stay free from everything that can
keep me bound. For years I had to be
released from the spirits that were
transferred to me. There was one man for
whom I had such a strong desire I would lie
on the floor in a fetal position crying and
asking God to deliver me. He did. If God
loved me that much to free me from sexual
immorality my gratitude should be to stay
free.
Singles, we have to
rise to the occasion. God desires that we
be so in love with Him that nothing matters
except being obedient to His will. We
should be so strong in God and standing on
the word of God that our “no” should be as
adamant as my mother’s was when I was
younger. What is more important to you?
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh or
pleasing God? We have too much work to do
to build the Kingdom of God and as
ambassadors of Christ we need to be about
our Father’s business. To every single
woman/man struggling with sexual immorality,
I pray that you will stand on the word of
God, apply the word to your situation and
know that GOD is a deliverer. He sent His
Son to die that we may be free.
As I close, I pray I
have provoked some woman who feels that
giving her body will make a man stay with
her or even desire her. I pray that that I
have provoked some man to know that God has
more in store for you than for you to use
your body for sexual favors. I leave you
with one of my favorite worship songs.
“Lord you
are more precious than silver, Lord you are
more costly than gold, Lord you are more
beautiful than diamonds and NOTHING I desire
compares to you.”
Is your “No” strong
enough?
Be free and be
blessed |
