Is this even possible in today’s world?...I won’t lie, this has been a difficult and thorny area for me, and maybe for you too…..Maybe its because the church hasn’t truly been as vocal as it should be when it comes to this, or maybe it’s because the enemy has so corrupted this one of our lives and it seems that he has us licked…..But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory in Christ Jesus……
I am taking time to blog on this, because I feel really challenged to speak a word of truth into this area, and to help you identify how the enemy has been corrupting this, based on my own experiences, and those of others…..
Forgive me, but I want to get really deep with this, and so be gracious unto me as I expose some of that filth in the hopes of lifting you up and helping you to walk in victory…..The approach will be to go back to the beginning to see what God intended (Part A), what went wrong (Part B) and then give pointers to both women and men (Parts C and D respectively)….
I pray that as you read this, you may be empowered and challenged to live your life powerfully for God…..I pray that you will see the seriousness of the matter and then resolve to live in power before God and man….I pray that this won’t be just me rambling on, but the Lord may use that which is my heart and that through it, the Holy Spirit may convict you of areas in your life that need change and that are sin and that you and He may be reconciled…..
I’m putting small headings to help you follow along and may God bless you as you read His word and grow……
Part A: In the Beginning…..
Does anyone else find like there’s something missing in Genesis, or like there should be something before Genesis? Why? Genesis 1:1 starts of by saying that “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth”…..We aren’t told why, where He was when He was doing it….It just seems like we’re missing something, or at least to me….But that’s not particularly relevant….
But then for me it gets worse…..Gen 1 and 2……The order seems strange, almost as though some parts of 2 should have come in 1, and maybe that would help us truly understand what God had in mind….Irrespective of that, I believe that in Gen 1, we see the general overview of what God did, and in Gen 2, God focuses on man and woman…..One of my religion teachers told us that Gen 1 was written from God’s point of view, and Gen 2 was from man’s point of view…..But without getting into too much religion, there are some things we can get when we marry both texts, as all scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for reproach, correction and instruction, that the man of God might be perfected unto all good works….
Firstly, we see that God made both man and woman in His image and gave Him purpose…..Gen 1:26 “….and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”……..I should add here, that God said “they”, not “he”…..That means that both man and woman were meant to have dominion……He also gave us dominion over the creepy crawlies (that many of us are afraid of), but even over that snake that beguiled both Adam and Eve…..He also commanded us to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it” Gen 1.28……That means then that our sexuality was meant to be used to help us be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth……
Secondly, we see that God made man differently…..He didn’t just say, let there be man, and there was man…..No, He took time, built us a house of dust (our flesh) and then breathed into us “the breath of life, and man became a living soul”……..But when He built that man a house, He realized that it was not good that he be alone, and so he made him a help……You probably all know the story….so paraphrasing, He made man to sleep, pulled out a rib to make Eve, man awoke so one who was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh…….
Some would love to have you think that because of this woman is inferior to man…..That just isn’t true….We were made the same, and we are the same, but with functional differences……That which makes us equal is the fact that God breathed “the breath of life” into us…..Our physiological differences were made so that we could accomplish God’s command (of being fruitful and multiplying and replenishing the earth)….But God gave both man (and woman) dominion……Man isn’t superior to woman, or vice versa……We are equal partners, and sons of God…..We are spirits, housed in flesh….and because we have the spirit of God, we are equal…..Am I making sense? God is more concerned about our spiritual nature, and our physiological differences are but dust….
Gen 2:24 records that a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh…and that is what God expects….It isn’t a man shall cleave to another man, or a woman shall cleave to another woman….I hope I haven’t lost you, but if you are offended, don’t be…..its God’s word, and it is meant to correct, not condemn you…..
Now, we get to a point…..Why did God see that it was not good for man to be alone…..I wrestled with this question for a while, and yet the answer was right there….God wanted them to have dominion, to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish the earth…….Adam couldn’t do that all alone…I guess He could have given Adam some sort of hermaphrodite qualities, like some single celled creatures, but He chose not to….Also, when God said that let us make man after our likeness, there are certain qualities of Him that He wanted us to have…..We wanted to make us (both man and woman) partners in Him, and it pleased Him! He wanted man to leave his mother and father, cleave to his wife, and the two of them be joined before God and become one flesh, as we continue to carry out His command and have dominion…..We are His creation …He took time to make us just like Him….I am in awe of who He is after reading Genesis 1 & 2. Honestly, God rules, Satan sucks, and this world is passing away!
Part B: What went wrong…
See, the word records in Gen 3 that the serpent was more cunning that the other creatures and he came and beguiled Eve…..Now, that must have been a sight to behold….A talking snake…I’m surprised Eve didn’t bolt from the snake given how women are generally afraid of snakes (OK, I am not being stereotypical, or chauvinist, just trying to add a little cheer….) But I should add in those days, she had dominion….Eve, do I hear an amen…..That snake was subject to her authority, just like the scorpion, the ugly spider, the rat and the dogs were subject to her authority…..OK, back on track….
Dr. Miles Munroe has a revelational teaching on the Garden of Eden. He says that because God gave man (and woman) dominion, spiritual beings had no authority on earth, and when the Devil came, he couldn’t come as a spiritual being, but had to guise himself in flesh (that of a snake….and why snakes would lend themselves to be used by the enemy is beside me, anyway) And He goes on to explain that this is why Christ (the anointed one) had to be conceived in flesh (Jesus), and that’s why we are told that unto us a child is born (Jesus), but unto us a son is given (the Christ)…..And so when Jesus was crucified, his body was laid in the tomb, but Christ, the Son of God went into Hades and reclaimed from the prince of the air our dominion and reclaimed our inheritance….And that’s why Christ says that He has power to raise Himself back to life (see the Son of God could not die, He is spirit) So after dueling and restoring back from the enemy our inheritance, He arose in newness of life…..Yeah, it’s kinda deep stuff, but it explains why the demons were afraid when they saw Jesus…..I believe that they weren’t afraid of Jesus the man, but because they are spirit, they recognized the Christ, the son of the living God and were terror struck…No wonder they cried out and said, why have you come to persecute us before the time is come!....The power of salvation…I can’t believe it took Jesus Christ 3 days to regain everything back from the enemy…..Halleluyah to the Lamb of God that He did….So, just like we are flesh and spirit, so was Jesus Christ (both flesh and spirit). Also, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us refers to how the Christ was clothed in flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us…..And that’s why we are told that Jesus was tempted in all points just as we were (his fleshy part was tempted), but He was without sin…You see the part of Him that was God was incorruptible, but His flesh was corruptible, but because He was 100% subject to the will of God, He walked in authority….I believe He walked about with the authority on earth that Adam and Eve once had…...And when Jesus was tempted by the enemy, if you look at how He responded to temptation, you realize that the enemy tempted Jesus in flesh, but He responded in spirit (the Christ)….It is written, it is written….it goes to show that we cannot overcome the enemy in our flesh, but we do in His spirit….scripture that says our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God (who is spirit, so our weapons are spiritual), for the pulling down of strong holds.
I like Dr. Munroe’s teaching in that it helps us understand what was going on in
The thing that I want you to bear in mind is that these were the consequences of our sin and that they were pronounced in full earshot of the enemy …..And because he was there when we were judged, he knows where we are vulnerable and has continued to trap us around those consequences of our sin ……Infact, let me put it this way…..In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth….When we sinned, we lost that dominion to the prince of the air, and so He had dominion over it, until Christ came in the form of man and purchased our salvation. Now, we who are called by His name, have authority not in our flesh (because we lost that to the enemy), but in Jesus’ name…I personally believe that if we hadn’t lost dominion, we would be speaking and things would be happening….We’d be going about business, just like Christ did while He was on earth……We’d speak like Jesus spoke, and the wind and the waves obeyed Him. I believe that because He walked in both His earthly (as given by God to Adam) and divine authority and because He did not give place to the enemy, circumstances around Him changed …Remember when God created Adam and Eve, He put Himself into them...
I should also add that because we listened to the voice of the enemy, and not to the voice of God, we lost dominion to Him…..We became enslaved of him, and that’s why God says that he who sins is a slave of sin….But because of what Jesus did, we have authority in this world and have an inheritance to the next….So He gave us both life in this world, and in the next, and so I say again, halleluyah to the lamb of God!
Ok, finally I can come back to where I was going with this all along….
Part C: Women
The enemy has really been on you case….From the fall, women have been dominated over, persecuted, taken for granted, despised, misused, prostituted, bruised, battered, etc…..Why?
I honestly believe it is because of 3 things, both of which originate from the fall, and the consequences of our sin….Firstly, you lost your dominion, and so it has been a constant struggle to regain that dominion…..And so, no wonder even in today’s world, women find it harder to get to the top, because of the dominion which was lost to them. And sadly, women have used their sexuality as a way to then try and gain power, and get the dominion that they lost…..
Secondly, the fact that the consequence of your sin was that your husbands would rule over you! Remember how we were created in the beginning to have joint and equal dominion? And sadly, because the enemy knows that your desire will be to your husbands, he has used men to beat and subjugate you……
Look at history, and the number of instances in which women have been abused, physically and sexually….Look at the ways in which women are brought under the subject of many men and have many husbands through sex…..Don’t be mistaken, just like Jesus told the Samaritan woman that she had many husbands, the moment sexual is involved, that is a commitment before God…And so the enemy has used your sexuality against you….He brings you to indulge in sex (or even uses men to force you into sex) making them your “husbands” and then making those men rule over you….How many women do we know who are stuck to bad men, who are in their dominion and can never leave? With abusive men who take them for granted? Who don’t help them grow, but rather make them lower their physical and moral standards? Why? Because when you have sex with that person, you are brought under their dominion and if they are not led of the spirit of God, they will eventually lead you to your downfall…..
I must apologize to women here, because at one point the enemy tried to lead me down this path, but thanks be to God whose mercies and loving kindness helped me up and brought me to true revelation of His power.
Thirdly, when God said to the snake that her seed will bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel, he wasn’t just talking about the usual stomping on the head of a snake….In my bible, whenever there’s a scripture talking about God’s kingdom in Christ, there’s a little crown….In this scripture, God was also alluding to the fact that he will use her seed to redeem man….See all those scriptures later talking about a saviour, the lion in the tribe of Judah, all making reference to the Christ which was to come…Isaiah 7:14 says a “virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”…..See how that son is called Jesus (which is woman’s seed) and Immanuel is the Christ “God with us”? But yes, so women, the enemy has been on your case also because he knew that God was going to use you to bring about the redemption of mankind, and from time immemorial, he has tried to kill your seed (even tried to kill Jesus when He was born)…..
So, now that you know the areas that the enemy has been attacking you, it is time to take up your rightful place as heirs of God’s kingdom and reclaim back that which Jesus died for you to have! You need to steadfastly pray to God to deliver you from the consequences of your sin through Eve, and because you are a new creation in Him, you need not have fellowship with that sin……You need to pray that God restores your dominion, when you do find husbands (in marriage), find men who are subject to the authority of God, so that even as the word commands you to submit to them, you can do so in reverence to God and men who won’t abuse you, find men who will help protect and nurture your seed, and help you be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, have dominion and subdue it…….
Women, I don’t know who told you a lie that you were inferior, are imperfect, need a man to be complete…..It’s a whole load of bogwash! God created you perfect….He pulled you out of Adam and entrusted you with a very beautiful and divine gift…..Creation…..That womb that you carry is your badge of honor! See how special you are to God, that when He was ready to embark upon His greatest work, He involved you…..Infact He appeared to Mary even before He told Joseph what was up…..Women, your womb is a holy sanctuary, and you and God share in creation in a way that no man can….God uses your body to do that which is in secret, even from men, and to bring it unto fruition when it is ready! Women, protect your womb…..
Actually, now that I have talked about submission, don’t get me wrong….By submission, I mean, letting the man that God has put in your life, be your head, even as He is under submission to God…..And he should love you just as Christ loved the church….…Our destinies as women and men are inter-linked, and we need to understand that…..Women, your work isn’t just to be sexed, bear babies, and yield to a man’s every desire willy nilly…Don’t accept it….You are clothed with the spirit of the most High God, and need to understand that you have a divine purpose and destiny, and your man should help you get there….You are equal to him, both created a little lower than the angels of God……God expects you to be his help, but has also given you dominion, and so your man should also help you exercise your dominion in Christ…
Part D: Men
From the consequence of our sin, we lost dominion, just like Eve did….And so we continuously struggle to gain that dominion back…….
Unfortunately, the enemy knows that we lost dominion and so what does he do…..He tries to give us all sorts of things to dominate, and helps us abuse our sexuality in the quest of domination…..We try and dominate over women by sexing them silly, trying to subjugate over them, beating them, enslaving them and making them muses for our every desire, mistreating them and making them miss their destiny in Christ……The sheer proliferation of porn reveals just how far the enemy has gone to help us degrade and dominate women….And men, this has to stop……I think I am passionate over this, especially because it is something I struggled with….See the more you indulge in sex, the more you dominate and lord yourself over women, the more you can’t seem to get enough, and if you don’t watch it, you will find yourself down a road where you can’t get yourself back…..I’m talking about raping minors, your relatives, friends, strangers, whatever….I am talking about beastiality, and all that filth…..And then you ensure that the cycle continues….The enemy has deceived us in that there is some sense of pride, some manliness in being a player (it’s all rooted in the quest for domination), which is a corruption of God’s will for our lives as Men……..
Secondly, because the ground was cursed, you toil and labor in vain….I didn’t realize just how bad it was, until I started doing stuff on my own, and realized just how tiring it can be……The word says that out of the sweat of your brow will you eat, and so you struggle with project after project, trying to make ends meet, working hard to support a wife a family, etc….You compromise your integrity all in the name of trying to make your daily bread so that you can be well. You live out of your means trying to impress, etc…..Do you see how bad all this got as a result of our sin….. And what happens….the word also says that thorns and thistles shall the land bring forth unto thee…..So, as much as you labor to support your family, you get all this stuff that you didn’t bargain for…disappointment, heartache, betrayal, etc (OK, this also happens to women, but more so to a man)…..you have people question your manliness because you can’t provide….you even have the women that God brought into your life to question your manliness…..
So men, what should we do….Firstly, we need to use our sexuality in a manner that is befitting of God…..We need to not bring women unto domination….We were given the earth to have dominion over and not women….Also, we need to understand that women are not less than us, but we are equal and that we need to honor them as vessels of God….Just as Christ is the head of the church and is responsible for it, we are responsible for our families and our wives. We need to honor, love, cherish and protect them…..We need to give them direction as they submit to us…..For instance, had Adam told Eve, no, remember God said that we shouldn’t eat of that fruit, we would be in a far better place today….I know, I sympathize with Adam tho’, we are so vulnerable when it comes to the women that we love, but we need to give them direction and be subject to God….I believe that’s why God showed up and asked Adam where they were……God holds us accountable for the women in our lives as he has made us the High priest…..So remember this before you try and “make love” to a woman…..
Actually, that’s also another crock pot from the depths of Hades…..Making love? I am sure that phrase was conjured up by a man…..Anyway, don’t think like I used to, that you are showing a woman how much you like her by making love to her…..That’s a lie….If that woman isn’t your wife, you are bringing that woman under your authority as your wife, and God will hold you accountable……Worse still, if you let him, the enemy will use you to destroy her, and then destroy you by keeping you trapped in that lie…..So men, let’s wake up…..Let’s realize that we are fashioned after the order of the most High and let’s wear our sexuality with honor…..Let’s also be sure to flee from the adulterer, as Proverbs says, for she will destroy your soul…It can be really tragic when a woman (also trying to gain her dominion back) sexes you willy nilly, making you believe that she loves you, only to realize that she didn’t really. She just wanted your stuff…She just wanted your dominion….Men, you have been given a noble and honored responsibility...As the High Priest in that Home, you need to be close with God, to give direction and wisdom, to protect your family from the enemy….Basically, when your children see how much you love them and your wife, they should instantaneously understand how God loves them…..You should take charge and be rooted….Don’t let the enemy try and give you short cuts that aren’t in God will….Heaven is waiting for you to declare the direction that you want your family to take and as His High Priest, He will give you audience and help you be the best dad and husband you can be……You have power in Him who appointed you to be the head of the home…..
Men, let’s also find Godly women who will be help suitable for us….A woman who will join with us and help us break free from the curse of barrenness that was placed upon us…Let’s find that woman who will nurture and protect our seed, and help us be the High Priest in our home…..Men, let’s find that woman who will be submissive to us, who will honor us, love us, and let us be responsible before them before God and man…..That woman who will make us rejoice and sing with Adam “This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh”…..King Solomon says He who finds a wife finds a good thing…..And the man had several wives (makes you wonder how many good things he found), anyways…..
Let us find that woman who will keep us honest, accountable and true before God and man……
Finally, to both men and women…..understand the proper place and purpose for sex….Even within a marriage, understand that sex has a purpose, and if you don’t understand what that purpose is, you will land yourself into a whole lot of issues…..For one, one shouldn’t be getting married so as to enjoy all the sex you want….OK, I have also thought that…..But understand that the same marriage should give God glory….Why be married, but abuse your wife, or your husband by making them your sex slaves? And when that situation explodes, you have kids who will be torn apart? The word says that we should mortify our members, and I believe that means even our loins……We should understand that even though sex is heaven sanctified in marriage, it still shouldn’t have dominion over you….What happens that day when your wife (or husband) is too tired to satisfy you (because you are a sex crazed maniac), ok I am pushing it, I know, but I am saying this for a reason…..you will, in most likelihood be so rejected and unfulfilled that you will stray, and land on the housegirl (or houseboy), your children, a neighbor, etc…..
OK, I am not saying that there should be no sex in the marriage, but I am saying that you should still honor God and each other…..work together jointly to accomplish that which you both want collectively…It shouldn’t just be one sided…..Men, you enjoy sex, and so do women (if you do it right), so learn to satisfy her….and vice versa….Wives, your husbands want to have sex with you so facilitate them, but in all things be gracious unto each other and honor God who lives inside of them…..Don’t come into a God defined union with mess that you should have taken care of when you are single is what I am saying……
But yes, back to the purpose of sex, and your sexuality…..I honestly believe that the purpose of your sexuality was to edify God! How? When a wife and husband engage in sex, they join their creator in His creative ability…..The two of you become one flesh when your seed unite in the fertile ground of her womb and nine months later emerges a baby…….Now, of course the enemy has to corrupt that with all sorts of sickness….from blowjobs, to anal to God knows what…….
Am I saying that sex is to be only done when conception is the purpose? O, that’s a toughie…..What I am saying is that when you do have sex (in marriage), honor each other, and if a child is conceived, honor that child….I won’t get into a pro-life, or pro-choice debase, but make sure that you aren’t letting the enemy abuse that which is of God to get you to fall and to keep you off track!
Sex is great, but understand that the accuser of the brethren is as a roaming lion, waiting to devour you…And because sex is something that is so sacred before God, you need to be a very good steward of it…..I challenge you, as I challenge myself, that as you make love to your husband or wife, understand that Heaven is watching…And God knows that which is in your heart….So honor your wife….honor your husbands…..
My prayer to us, and myself is that we may be wise as to the things that the enemy is doing….All this new age stuff that we think is hip and cool, often times is an exciting perversion of that which God has created….We are warned that in the last days, men will become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God……And understand that the enemy knows your flesh and knows how he can get you to stumble……I hope that this encourages you to value your sexuality as much as God does…..
Honesty time….Personally, I can say that before I had purposed to mortify my flesh it was running wild, and the enemy was helping me conjure more and more ways to satisfy its wary ways….From conjuring up various sexual positions, to sexual fantasies to watching porn to figure out more exciting ways to satisfy my carnal desires….Trying to find more ways to gratify my sexual needs, and by so doing worshipping the creation and not the creator…..
As I write this, I realize that all of that was not edifying God, and I thank Him for the opportunity to share with you some reflections as I come to terms with what God expects of me….I have now come to the understanding that in my married life, I will need to honor and love my wife and God even more….There’s a whole lot to marriage than just sex…..there’s taking care of the kids, making an inheritance for them, walking with your spouse through the good and bad times, honoring and cherishing God, etc……
One thing I know I will need to do is to approach my sex life in marriage in the same way that I approach everything else….not in the wiles of my flesh, but in His spirit! What? Yes, you heard me…..I think there’s a tendency to think that ah, sex is of the flesh, and so that I should be able to do in my flesh, right? Wrong! If you do, the enemy will come in and corrupt it….I don’t want to bring the standards of a sinful world into a union that was blessed and ordained by God….
So, I will need to ask God for wisdom to relate to my wife sexually, in a manner that acknowledges both her authority in Christ, her spiritual being, and glorifies Him, that through it I glorify both God and edify the church, of which we are all one body….Coz at the end of the day, I will stand in judgment and give account of the things I did in my flesh, and I want the Lord to say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the rest of the Lord”…..
God bless you for reading!