Spiritual Warfare Series — Devotional #3
Unmet Sexual Needs in a Marriage Relationship
This week, we continue to explore the following question: How does God’s enemy come after His people and His leaders for the sole purpose of distracting, disrupting, and derailing them from being involved in God's great mission?
As we survey Pauline literature, we will discover fourteen tactical strategies the enemy uses to come after God's people, along with specific antidotes for addressing each problem. See the introduction to this series for an overview of this subject.
Tactic 3: Unmet Sexual Needs in a Marriage Relationship
"A successful marriage is built on spiritual, emotional, and sexual intimacy. To neglect any one of these could make your marriage vulnerable.”
– Gary Rohrmayer
Text: 1 Corinthians 7:3–5
“The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 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.”
Problem:
“Satan can gain inroads into the life of a married person when sexual needs are not being met.”
– J. Robert Clinton
Antidote:
“Keep lines of communication open in a marriage relationship, concerning sexual needs.”
– J. Robert Clinton
Reflective Questions:
On a scale of 1 (extremely frustrated) to 10 (extremely satisfied), how would you rate your sexual relationship with your spouse?
Could you share that number openly with your spouse?
How could the enemy manipulate the frustration you are experiencing?
In what area of your sexual life would he specifically tempt you?
Is there someone in your life with whom you can safely share these frustrations?
Prayer:
Holy Father, You are the creator of the marriage union. May Your desire for oneness be fulfilled in our emotional, spiritual, and physical relationship.
Merciful Father, help me to be open and receptive in my conversations with my spouse. Protect me from being rigid and defensive.
Righteous Father, grant me the courage to speak the truth in love to my spouse concerning our relationship at every level: emotionally, spiritually, and sexually.
Loving Father, let the higher values of love guide my life, and not the base values of gratification control me. I come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
