Spiritual Warfare: Unmet Sexual Needs in a Marriage Relationship

This week we continue to answer 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 that the enemy will use to come after God's people along with specific antidotes in addressing that problem.  See the introduction to this series to receive an overview of this subject.

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: I 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?
• What area of your sexual life would he specifically attack you with temptation?
• Is there someone in your life that you can 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 truth in love to my spouse concerning our relationship at every level: emotionally, spiritually and sexually.  Loving Father, let the higher values of love drive my life and not the base values of gratification control me. I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Next: An Unforgiving Spirit

To view the entire series of posts on Spiritual Warfare