1 Corinthians 5:1-5 NIV
”It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.“
INSIGHT
-Apostle Paul reports that sexual immorality, in particular incest had increased among the Corinthian church while within the Roman community it was unheard of. He recommended excommunication of these members from the church thus handing them over to Satan. Absolom, king David’s son slept with his father’s wives in the sight of the Israelites at the advice of Ahithophel when he wanted to overthrow him from the throne (2 Samuel 16:20-23). With the endorsement of LGBTQ right to associate in Kenya, might be a cause for judgement upon this land. While some of the Christian communities embrace it, hundreds of Muslims protested outside the Supreme Court late last year. It is necessary then to pray for the nation and repent that the Lord may deliver us from all judgement.
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus we are grateful for Your divine enablement that we are alive today. This is the day that You have made we rejoice and are glad in it. We humbly ask that You forgive us all our sins, iniquities and transgressions and wash us with Your precious blood. May You forgive our nation for every sexual sin that has been committed here and transform every person engaged in sexual immorality. May You forgive us for endorsing the LGBTQ bill and adopting it, may You forgive us dear Lord Jesus. We claim our nation back to believers from the hands of the Muslims and foreigners in Jesus might name. May You fight all battles for us dear Jesus. We thank You for the weather that You have given us, may You save us from the flood that causes loss of lives and destruction of property. May You bless our land and our economy dear Lord Jesus. May You guide us throughout the week and bless us. We pray this believing and trusting in Jesus name. Amen
Further reading: Leviticus 18:7
Judges 19:20-30 NIV
”“You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”“
INSIGHT
–A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim had a wife who was unfaithful to him, and she went back home to her father. After four months the husband went to get her back and he was successful. On the return journey, the Levite, her wife and his servant resided at Gibeah where the Benjamites inhabited. Later some men of Benjamin came and asked for the Levite so that they could perform the evil act of sodomy upon him. The old man who had hosted them pleaded with the men to take her virgin daughter instead but they couldn’t listen. So the Levites concubine was defiled to death. It was so shameful and he took her home, cut her body into twelve pieces and distributed them to the other tribes of Israel. Later the Benjamites fought with the other tribes of Israel and many of them were killed apart from six hundred men who survived. This tale outlines the perversions similar to those of Sodom and Gomorrah described in Genesis 19. The house of Benjamin, one of the tribes of Israel was affected by such events of sexual immorality, and more than twenty five thousand men, without counting women and children died. Such perversions have been normalized in our nation and in the world at large. We are called to plead for God’s mercy even as the world is being judged for these things.
PRAYER
Lord You are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Abba Father You are good to all and compassionate to all Your creation, we praise Your holy name. We have sinned Lord and fallen short of Your glory, please forgive us. We have gone astray and behave like the Benjamites and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah as a nation, please forgive us. May You have mercy on our nation of Kenya and the entire world, and save us. Save us from the sin of sexual immorality that has affected our children and even our churches. May You cleanse us and place Your precious blood upon the door posts of our hearts, families and nation so that when the angel of death comes he will pass us by. May You prosper our businesses and nation and enable us to take new territories. May You bless us in all spheres of our lives for the glory and honor of Your name. Amen
Further reading: Judges 19 and 20
Psalms 51:1-13 NKJV
”Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.“
INSIGHT
–This is a Psalm of David narrated after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife and orchestrated his death in the battle field. King David did not go to the battlefield in the conquest with the Ammonites and he was at his palace on the flat roof when he saw Bathsheba bathing, and lusted after her (2 Samuel 11:2). Nathan the prophet then confronted him and gave him an analogy of a rich man who had plenty of sheep and cattle but took the only ewe lamb of peasant and prepared it for his visitor. This tale angered king David and when he realized that the revelation of the prophet was about himself, he confessed his sins. This prayer of David is often used for confession and a call to repentance which requires self reflection and turning away from every sin. It doesn’t stop there but requires each one to take part in the great commission and preach the gospel to others so that they may be converted and believe in Jesus Christ.
PRAYER
Have mercy upon me O God according to Your lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You dear Lord, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight. That You may be found just when You speak and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners shall be converted to You by Your grace and divine enablement. Use us dear Lord Jesus for the purposes of Your kingdom building and for the glory of Your name. Amen
Further reading: 1 John 2:15-17, Psalms 32:1-11
Galatians 5:19-25 NIV
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
INSIGHT
–Apostle Paul condemns the act of sexual immorality combined with other fleshly acts that are in one way or another related. 1 John 2:15-17 reminds us that, If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them, for everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that do not comes from the Father but from the world for the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Sexual immorality has been proven to adversely affect our society and is being propagated by prostitution in various levels. We are called to abide in Christ and in His word so that we may ask anything we wish for and it will be done unto us.
PRAYER
Dear Almighty Father, we praise Your Holy and Mighty Name. We exalt You and call You Holy this day, You are highly lifted up and there is none like You. Father may You forgive us for all the sins and iniquity we have done said or thought. May You purify and sanctify us by Your precious blood oh Lord. Today we surrender ourselves and our desires unto You oh Lord. We crucify our flesh and all our passions and take up the passion of the Lord. It is no longer us who lives but You Christ who lives in us. This is Your temple Holy Spirit, may You dwell deeply and richly in us. May You be pleased by our conduct and help us to walk in a way worthy of our calling. We pray that You may fill us with Your precious Holy Spirit. May You destroy all the works of Satan working in our communities and close all the brothels, prostitution and alcohol dens, drug selling points, gambling companies and set our people and our nation free dear Jesus. We thank You for we know that You Who begun a good work in is, is able to keep us till the end. Thank You oh Lord. We worship You and trust in You this day. We pray this in Jesus Mighty Name, Amen.
Further reading: Mark 7:20-23
John 8:1-12 NKJV
“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.””
INSIGHT
–A concoction of lessons can be drawn from the tale of the woman caught in the act of adultery. One is that each one has sinned fallen short of God’s glory thus the need for repentance and forgiveness rather than condemnation. Second is that when the woman was caught in the act of adultery, a man was involved thus the need to desist from discrimination and self righteousness. Thirdly, when Christ forgives us, He requires that we sin no more even if His grace abounds. Fourthly, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgement and helps us to overcome every wickedness. Last but not least, we are called to walk in the light and we will not experience darkness in our lives.
SUMMARY
Sexual immorality in Greek is written as porneia and it means prostitution, pornography, whoredom, and fornication. This word is not directly translate as adultery as it is not limited to it. Any sexual activity that goes against God’s standard written in the Bible is considered as sexual immorality. Time has changed, and so have the people’s adherence to God’s word. More and more people have been desensitized with sin, and instead of correcting it, they justified it. Christians stand on the belief that the union between people of the same gender is a sin. No matter what the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer) community claims, the Bible says otherwise. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was duplicated by the Benjamins when they intended to defile a Levite sexually and ended up killing his concubine (Judges 19:20-30). This sin has slowly crept into the church communities and calls for repentance. Apostle Paul 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, condemns sexual immorality that even the Pagan communities do not tolerate when a man sleeps with the father’s wife. Some Christian communities has allowed sexual immoral behaviors in their lives even as Muslims and other communities condemn such conduct. It is vital to take advantage of Jesus Christ, His power and His teachings, and take hold of His blood that forgives every sin. Christ calls each one to repent like king David in Psalms 51 and turn from every wickedness as each one also takes responsibility to preach the gospel to all the nations.
PRAYER
Like Adam the first man who became a living being You have formed us Abba Father, we repent for every sin and iniquity we have committed personally, in our families, communities and in our nation. We ask You dear Jesus to remove every accusation against us in the courts of heaven and wash us with Your precious blood. May You help us and teach us to forgive all those who have offended us as You forgive our trespasses too. May Your our Last Adam and life-giving Spirit touch every heart and every souls and transform us to become more like You daily. May You deliver us from every disastrous flood and heal every heart of those who are bereaved. May You revive our nation and transform our economy. May You guide us in every purpose that You have called us and elevate us from one level to the next in every sphere of our lives. May You bless us and keep us dear Lord Jesus. May You shine Your face towards us and be gracious unto us. May You show Your countenance unto us and give us peace. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen
Further reading: Matthew 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45