Sexual Discipline Is Spiritual Warfare - 100 Days Of Discipleship - Day 93 by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Sexual Discipline Is Spiritual Warfare

This is a topic many Christians are more interested in than they like to admit. It is also, stated plainly, one of the areas a believer must master early — because if it is left unaddressed, it can affect destiny.

1 Corinthians 7:2 — "Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband."

The church rightly teaches disciplines for managing sexual temptation — removing yourself from environments of temptation, fasting, prayer, accountability. Paul does not contradict any of this. He adds something to it: one of the most practical ways to manage sexual vulnerability is marriage.

This is important to understand. Sex was designed by God. It is good. The impulses a person feels were put there by God — they would be a cause for concern in their absence. The issue is not the desire itself. The sin is in channeling it toward the wrong person or at the wrong time. Within the covenant of marriage, those impulses belong.

The Duty of Affection in Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:3–5 carries an often-avoided instruction:

• Let the husband render to his wife the affection that is due her — and likewise the wife to her husband.
• A wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
• Do not deprive one another, except by mutual consent for a season of prayer and fasting — and then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Paul makes the point plainly: depriving a spouse is not a neutral act. It leaves them vulnerable. It opens a door. If a person is well-fed at home, the food outside will not catch their attention. This is not a perfect law, but it is a practical reality — and it is Scripture.

Married believers who are serious about guarding their covenant need to take this word as seriously as any other word they act on from the Bible.

The Wisdom of Marriage Timing

1 Corinthians 7:9 — Paul says plainly: if you are not exercising self-control, it is better to marry than to burn.

It is spiritually naive for a grown person to wonder why they are struggling with sexual urges. The design of the body — the biological reality of puberty, of the drive toward procreation — is God through nature signaling that the time for marriage is near. The secular system has delayed this by decades, placing people in situations where they should be married and raising children but are instead still only beginning their careers and independence.

Train children with this in mind: that emotional maturity and some level of financial independence should be goals by their early 20s — not so they are locked in, but so that if they choose marriage, they are ready.

Marriage Does Not End the Battle

A caveat: marriage is not the end of the fight. There is a level of temptation that does not exist until marriage. The exposure that comes with physical intimacy introduces a new school of its own. Every person, married or not, must know how to handle their own vessel. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 — this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

Glutton is a sin, but eating food is not a sin. In the same way, the existence of a provision of God does not mean the provision can be abused. The structures God provides — marriage, covenant, self-control — work together. They are not excuses to abandon discipline, but the right channels through which desire finds its legitimate expression.

Settle down. Marry someone who satisfies you. Enjoy each other — and use that covenant as the weapon of spiritual warfare it was designed to be.