Hi there,
So you may be aware of the idea of a vow of chastity. It's a vow, that you will not endorse the flesh, in a relationship with another. It's like saying you won't "pevert" a relationship with someone else, but it is stronger. The vow is that you will not endorse the flesh at all, even with your wife. It is not a punishment, it is a purity - but the Devil gets these things easily confused. The Devil indeed, would rather that you endorse the flesh, and keep endorsing it, until your resistance to his power, is overwhelming. It's a simple calculation for the Devil, if you don't know how he is tempting you, any temptation will do. Then the prowess of your seed, will be nothing to his. There is a lesson in this!
The thing we must learn, is that the Devil desires to go to and fro, not come and go. If he can find a way to bring corrupt flesh into conflict with corrupt flesh, that is exactly what he will do, that you are married is a saving grace in this sense - because you do not satisfy or keep satisfying the flesh, when you realise that you are only reaping corruption (but by then you are too late, to change the Devil's ways). Naturally, your children will want to change the Devil's ways, but only from the perspective of starting over - which the Devil mocks, before God. What you must look for is the power of the Word, and that between you and your spouse.
If then both of you are bound in a vow of chastity, the Word and its Power will be great between you and those whom you raise to the Lord, will be strong in changing the Devil's ways - for they will grasp the chasm between those who believe and those who do not. Eventually, the Devil is compelled to go into full retreat, but if there is no vow of chastity: he will come back. This is the reason the saints have faith in the Return of the Lord: only the Lord can overcome the Devil's return, only the Lord knows how to use the vow of chastity to block the incursion of the Devil, against the land where the faithful dwell. We would do well to pray for our deliverance and upstanding in this respect - that is deliverance and upstanding in this life, but also in the next. There is a full faith here.
I hope this has been of some interest and that you have seriously considered a vow of chastity, or at least understood why it is that you do not.
God bless.
So you may be aware of the idea of a vow of chastity. It's a vow, that you will not endorse the flesh, in a relationship with another. It's like saying you won't "pevert" a relationship with someone else, but it is stronger. The vow is that you will not endorse the flesh at all, even with your wife. It is not a punishment, it is a purity - but the Devil gets these things easily confused. The Devil indeed, would rather that you endorse the flesh, and keep endorsing it, until your resistance to his power, is overwhelming. It's a simple calculation for the Devil, if you don't know how he is tempting you, any temptation will do. Then the prowess of your seed, will be nothing to his. There is a lesson in this!
The thing we must learn, is that the Devil desires to go to and fro, not come and go. If he can find a way to bring corrupt flesh into conflict with corrupt flesh, that is exactly what he will do, that you are married is a saving grace in this sense - because you do not satisfy or keep satisfying the flesh, when you realise that you are only reaping corruption (but by then you are too late, to change the Devil's ways). Naturally, your children will want to change the Devil's ways, but only from the perspective of starting over - which the Devil mocks, before God. What you must look for is the power of the Word, and that between you and your spouse.
If then both of you are bound in a vow of chastity, the Word and its Power will be great between you and those whom you raise to the Lord, will be strong in changing the Devil's ways - for they will grasp the chasm between those who believe and those who do not. Eventually, the Devil is compelled to go into full retreat, but if there is no vow of chastity: he will come back. This is the reason the saints have faith in the Return of the Lord: only the Lord can overcome the Devil's return, only the Lord knows how to use the vow of chastity to block the incursion of the Devil, against the land where the faithful dwell. We would do well to pray for our deliverance and upstanding in this respect - that is deliverance and upstanding in this life, but also in the next. There is a full faith here.
I hope this has been of some interest and that you have seriously considered a vow of chastity, or at least understood why it is that you do not.
God bless.
