• Week Three
• Day One
• Please pray before starting as always and don’t forget to ask for eyes to see and ears to hear…

The Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, You have redeemed me from the dominion of death and darkness and brought me into Your Kingdom of life and light. Your mercy and grace have freed me from the prison of sin. Your loving kindness has knit my heart to Yours. Now I am Yours and You are mine. You are my Lord, my Master, and my Beloved. You are my loving, heavenly Father who loves me with a perfect love. Help me love You! Help me to see Your face and hear Your voice. Help me stand in Your grace and under the fountain of Your love. May Your love and truth flow over, in and through my soul. When despair, condemnation, doubt, or fear attempt to swallow me and threaten to bind me in their twisted claws, help me run to Your shelter in thanksgiving and praise. I love you, Lord Jesus! In You and in Your name I rest. Help me walk forward with my heart set upon you and things above, not on things below. (Amen.) For I have died, and my life is hidden with you. I want to love You. I want to love You with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength. I want Your love in me and my love for You to be demonstrated in a longing to serve You and others and through my faithful obedience to You and Your Word. May my sole desire be to please You as my Lord and my Beloved. May I present myself before you as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to You. Help me, by Your grace, to know You and love You so deeply and dearly that You mean far more to me than the things of this world. I want to worship You and You alone. (Amen.) I don’t want to be formed by anything or anyone else other than You. I want to be one with You – my heart knit to Yours. Grow Your love and truth deep within me. Thank You that Your Word tells me if I ask anything in your name and according to Your will that You will do it. In Your name, AMEN!!

Scripture

Matthew 5:27-32
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Devotional

PATHWAY TO TRUE INTIMACY

Sex, as created by God, is one of the most precious and marvelous gifts god has given to us. It is a wonderful gift, with very clearly defined boundaries and guidelines. God designed sex in marriage specifically for us and for His glory. I was designed not only to give great pleasure and to multiply mankind, but to glorify God. God said that the husband and wife are to become one, because, through this “oneness”, we reflect Him and bring Him glory. Genesis 2:18-25
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Ephesians 5:31-33: 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

As we seek true intimacy with the Lord and our spouse, we must always keep our focus on Him. Are your eyes wandering where they shouldn’t? What about your mind? We often think we aren’t palying with fire if we don’t visit inappropriate sites on the internet or if we are not entering into a relationship with another man, but what about our hearts? Does your heart wander? Sometimes the “wandering” is as simple as allowing your mind to consider what the neighbor is doing or how a co-worker pays attention to you. It may all seem so innocent at first, but, left unchecked, sin has a way of escalating. Underneath the “innocent” flirtation, much more is going on than meets the eyes. Let us seek to guard our hearts.

PRAISE HIM

Lord, help me. Please be there to hold my hand when you show me where I am wandering in my thought life or when I am not guarding my heart with other men. Psalms 7:12-16: 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.

Lord, I admit that I…

THANK HIM

Take time now to thank Him for always being ready to hear your cry, come to your aid, and forgive your sin. Thank you, Lord. Psalms 18:16-19: 16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. 18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. 19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

ASK HIM

Lord, help me stand firm against any unholy sexual thoughts. Strengthen my resolve to not withhold my body from my husband. Help me be all that he needs me to be. Help me bless him throughout the day and into the night when we are alone together. Help us have an increasingly intimate and fulfilling relationship.

Psalms 5:1-3: 1 (To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.) Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. 3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

My Own Thoughts

Well, then there is that. Someone once said to me: “If you want your husband to stay faithful, don’t say no. Don’t give the devil a chance to snatch your husband’s soul because you denied him.” and my personal favorite… “Honey, let me ask you something, Does your husband like going to work everyday? (answer: No, no he does not.) Dear, we don’t always like attending to our responsibilities but we must.”

That’s all I have to say about that. Until tomorrow, stay peculiar!