We are going to discuss a serious ingredient, which is the
protection against temptation. The Bible tells us yield not to
temptation. The Bible never said that we would not be tempted.
Temptation comes but yield not for yielding is sin. Marriage is
important to God. The Enemy will always try to ruin the design
that God intends for humanity because he knows that when he
fails to destroy God’s design, God’s kingdom will powerfully
advance. The Enemy tries to destroy
relationships that God places together so
that individuals will not experience a full
life of victory, abundance, and joy.
Temptation is one of the Enemy’s oldest
strategies, apart from deception and
accusation. Temptation in the marriage
is usually intended for one or both of the
spouses to commit adultery, which is a sin
in the eyes of God.
I (Debra) believe this is very important because I learned in
the ministry that there is always temptation around. I do know in
your spouse’s job, there can be temptation lurking as well. We
have stayed together because we made a commitment to stay
together. I have been that cover for my husband and vice versa.
When you would travel, I am always there with you or you have
someone, like an adjutant with you, to make sure that there would
be no temptation.
This is not because I do not trust him. I want to make it
clear. I trust my husband and he trusts me. We need to protect
each other from temptation not because of doubt. We put up
boundaries for ourselves and walls against temptation because we
know that there is an Enemy that intends to attack our marriage.
The worst thing you can do is say, “we would not be tempted.”
Even Jesus said that you would be tempted (Luke 17:1).
Another mistake you can make is to think you are above
temptation or that you will not be affected by it. You may say to
yourself, we trust each other; we can surpass any kind of
temptation without the need to protect ourselves from it. We love
each other enough. It is good that you are confident in each
other’s faithfulness and loyalty. However, Satan has been in the
business of temptation for more than 2000 years. He is an expert
at tempting people. Satan is an expert at ruining marriages. He is
intentionally trying to attack your relationship with your spouse.
He is constantly trying to get you to commit adultery.
Knowing this, you have to intentionally protect
your marriage from temptation. You need to be
strategic. You need to have rules for yourself
and your spouse. You need to have the intent to
stay together and with this intention in mind,
you proactively protect your marriage. Even
great men have fallen. We hear news of pastors
divorcing or falling into the sin of adultery.
Why? Is it because they did not love their wives
enough? No. It’s because they did not have the
foresight to protect their marriage from the attack of the Enemy
who’s main job is to steal, to kill, and to destroy the full life Jesus
wanted you to have (John 10:10).
You know there were a lot of times when temptation will
come and there will be some that I (Bishop Jordan) would tell my
wife about because as pastors inside the Church, there are women
that would come on to you. There are people of the same sex that
would come on to you and there are many people that are very
bold about coming on to you. However, one of the things that you
have to have is that inner core value whereby, your wife is the
most important person in your life, next to God. One of the
things that frustrate me the most is when other people allow
infidelity into their marriages. Yes, it is something that you can
keep out, if you build walls around your family. You need to place
spiritual walls against the Enemy. This can be done when you are
honest and open with your spouse. You need to be sensitive to
each other’s foresight about the attacks of the enemy.