⏱ 6 min read

Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ~ 1 Thess 4:1-5

The perfect will of God for you and I includes abstaining from sexual immorality. The will of God, which is often mysterious to know, is very clear about fornication.

• How many of us really want to do the will of God and please Him?
• Perhaps go on missions; win souls for Jesus! Heal the sick, raise the dead; do the Lord’s work; build multi-billion companies; attempt great things for God, etc.?
• Dear friend, perhaps the first mission we have to master is our sexual organ. This is God’s clear will for your life!

 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 

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• And we can do it just by the grace of God. Grace teaches us how to say no to worldly lusts and to live Godly lives.
• Receive God’s grace for your life! Receive that power that works in you both to will and to do! (Phil 2:13) Receive the lessons grace gives!
• Make a decision based on this to walk worthy of this precious grace and to please God. And do it so well that you appear odd to others (Titus 2:14).

Listen, when people start saying you are odd, different, strange about this, please call us and let’s have a party… You have broken through in Christianity! Rejoice greatly, for you are on the narrow way!

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. ~ Phil 2:13

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• Now, since this is one of the clearest directions of the Lord, it is important that we make it one of our clearest and most energetic goals to practically live a sexually pure life.
• Please stay away from anyone who would want to have an impure relationship with you.

Everyone has a different way through which they keep themselves from fornication and sexual immorality. You must find out: “What is God’s will for my life’s journey of staying away from fornication?”

• It may be God’s will for you to never read certain books or watch certain films; and that may be the way you will stay away from fornication (Prov 4:23, Phil 4:8, Matt 6:22-23)
• It may be God’s will for you to marry as a very young passionate man/woman in order to keep yourself from fornication (1 Cor 7:1-2, 8-9). 

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

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But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, [that as a practical matter] it is good if they remain [single and entirely devoted to the Lord] as I am. But if they do not have [sufficient] self-control, they should marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. ~ 1 Corinthians 7:8-9

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• In the marriage setting, it may be God’s will for you to have sex with your spouse every day in order to keep you from fornication (1 Cor 7:3-5, Prov 5:15-19).

Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

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Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

• It may be the will of God for you to never live in certain countries that are more immoral; or for you to move from such places and settle in another place.

“and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)“ ~ 2 Peter 2:7-8

• It may be God’s will for you to travel everywhere with your spouse in order to stay away from fornication.
• It may be the will of God for you not to have certain friends in order to avoid fornication (1 Cor 15:33, 2 Sam 13:3-5, Psalm 1:1-6).

Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character. ~ 1 Cor 15:33

• It may be God’s will for you never to work closely with the opposite sex (e.g. having female secretaries) in order to keep you from fornication.

What is the will of God for your specific circumstance and situation? When it comes to possessing your vessel in sanctification, everyone should know how it works best for them and what the will of the Lord is. May grace help us all.

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