We apologize for the late Chariot this month. A storm in our area knocked out all of our computers network capabilities and damaged the hard drive of the main office computer from which the Chariot is sent. Praise the Lord though, we were able to recover the data from the hard drive and are now back up and running with a new computer. At the end of the Chariot, Norm has added on a short note about some projects the ministry has been working on and how you can pray for us or be a part of the different projects.

Chariot February 2005 - Norm Wakefield

Caution: This article is not intended for a younger audience, as it is dealing with the important issue of sexual purity. Please use wisdom accordingly in regard to your children or young adults.

Rising to the Call to Purity

    Today's men of God live in perilous times! It seems to me the war against purity has reached a level in the United States unparalleled in previous generations. Sins related to a man's sexual needs have always been a challenge for men throughout the history of the human race. However, from my perspective, Satan has more weapons in his arsenal than ever before.

A Society of Users

    Today's men of God face incredible moral challenges. The godless culture in which we live encourages men to be users of women. A massive rising to the call to impurity has been issued from Madison Avenue, Hollywood, and Nashville. Our country has become intoxicated with sex. It sells. It attracts. It trains. It destroys. The result is generations of fathers and sons who think the epitome of masculinity is demonstrated in one's ability to use women to gratify sexual appetites. The pornography industry provides for those who don't have the actual ability to control women by providing endless avenues for men and boys to fantasize about their power to use women.

    Ultimately, the users get used by Satan to destroy women, who when married become a type of the bride of Christ. Their trust in men is annihilated which often leads to a lack of trust in God. The name of the Lord is blasphemed when a professing believer's impurity or immorality becomes public knowledge. The testimony of Jesus and the Church is darkened in marriages affected by unfaithful men. Wives who have been used for selfish sexual gratification don't usually glow with glory. This is to the husband's shame since the woman is the glory of a man (1 Cor. 11:7).

    Since we are surrounded by a society of men who have heeded the call to impurity from a darkened culture and have become users of women, men who rise to the call to purity stand out like a beacon on a hill – and so do their wives!

Holiness to our Wives and Purity are Inseparable

    Let's review briefly what it means to rise to the call of God as it relates to holiness. We have many callings in life. What is a calling by God? A calling is an irrevocable act of God establishing a special relationship with responsibilities, privileges, and promises which provide hope for the future. That's a mouthful, isn't it? Your first calling by God occurred when you were born to your parents. Your birth was an irrevocable act of God that made your relationship with your parents special. God's Word outlines clearly the responsibilities children have toward their parents. The basis for those responsibilities is the fact that the relationship is a calling by God.

    When a man and woman are married, Jesus declared the union to be performed by God. "What therefore God has joined together; let no man separate" (Mark 10:9). As with the parent/child relationship, God's Word clearly declares the responsibilities, privileges, and promises of future blessing for husbands and wives who rise to the call of God in their marriages.

    In previous articles 21-24 on Rising to the Call of Holiness (available at www.spiritofelijah.com) I explained that holiness is the principle which runs through all of the responsibilities of every calling from God. A husband is to treat his wife in a holy way. What do I mean by that? She is to be set apart from other women and to him. Holiness is a responsibility which comes with the calling.

Our Relationship With our Wives Is About our Relationship With God

    For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you (1 Thessalonians 4:2-8).

    The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about how they were to relate to their wives. In the passage above, the term vessel refers to a man's wife. The apostle Peter used the same term when he described a man's wife as the weaker vessel. The word sanctification is the word for holiness. You'll also notice the concept of calling in the mind of Paul. This holiness we are to exercise toward our wives is about God's calling in our lives. 

We Are to be Holy to our Wives

    First, we discover our responsibility toward our wives. We are to be holy to them – set apart to them. Practicing holiness to God and to our wives in our bodies means our bodies are reserved for the use of our God and our wives. This involves our minds, eyes, and sexual organs. We learn from the apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthians that our bodies are not our own, but have been purchased by the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19). He told the Romans that their worship to God was revealed in what they did with their bodies (Romans 12:1-2). It's the only thing God has given us with which to express our faith and worship.

    Rising to the call to purity means we recognize purity has to do with holiness. Holiness is applied to everything in the Christian life. With our minds renewed we set our bodies apart for God's glory and for the exclusive use of our wives. No other woman is to have the sexual privileges our wives have because our relationship with our wives is a calling by God and our bodies belong to Him. For a man to use his body to satisfy lustful passion is to misuse the Lord's body. That's quite a thought isn't it? Rising to the call to purity is our responsibility to the Lord and to our wives.

We Are to Treat Our Wives as Holy

    When Paul admonishes the Thessalonian men to possess their vessels in holiness and honor, he was describing their attitude toward their wives. The godless Gentiles used women to satisfy their lustful passions (no different from the godless men today). Men who love Jesus must have renewed minds in this area of life. Each is to obtain a wife for the purpose of holiness according to the will of God.

    For us men, it means we treat our wives with honor by reserving for them our affections, desires, and means of sexual satisfaction. If a man lusts after another woman, he gives to another woman what should be set apart for his wife. He abhors God's calling in his life. Speaking positively, he lets his wife's breasts satisfy him (Prov. 5:19). It should go without saying that a man of God does not allow another woman's breasts to satisfy him, whether in the flesh, in print, on celluloid, or DVD. However in this day when a woman's breasts have been deified like the golden calf of old, it needs to be said. God's will is that your wife's body be your sole means of sexual satisfaction and gratification.

A Word to the Wives

    You may take everything written above and apply it to your lives. Your body is not your own, but is the Lord's and your husband's (1 Cor. 6:19 and 1 Cor. 7:4); you are to glorify God in your body, be holy to your husband, and treat him as holy to you. Only to give your body to your husband when it meets your needs is to use him. Not to fulfill your sexual responsibility (duty as Paul refers to it in 1 Cor. 7:3) to your husband is to place a stumbling block in his quest for purity. Paul said that husbands and wives are to fulfill the sexual responsibilities of their calling because of immoralities (vs. 2). He means that the sexual relationship between husband and wife can contribute to moral failure. But more importantly you'll stand before God as a failure to rise to your calling in life as a wife. Because of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7, it is disobedience to the calling as husband and wife.

    Having counseled many women who were either abused sexually, misused by their husbands, or who have been embittered by unfaithful husbands, I realize what I've written above may sound alarming, perhaps even unthinkable. If such is the case for you, I encourage you to do whatever is necessary to apply the gospel to your relationship with your husband.

    Jesus Christ came to destroy all the works of the devil, to set us free from bitterness and hurt, and to enable us to forgive, love, give, and forbear in His name. This relationship with your husband is not primarily about you or him. It's about your relationship with God because it is God's calling in your life. I recommend some helpful resources for you. Read and apply the truths from my book, Equipped to Love. Listen to the message Unshakable Faith in the Equipping Men Series, or read my new book to be released this spring entitled, Anchored in Christ: A Solid Rock in the Storms of Life Through these and other resources, you may find comfort, healing, and a renewed way of viewing your marriage and relationship with your husband.

Humble Repentance Leads to Change

    If you haven't set your own body apart for the sole purpose of serving God and your spouse, then the place to begin change is to express repentance. Taking responsibility for your sin delivers your body from the effects of guilt. I'm not suggesting you need to tell all the lurid details of your sexual sin; however, confessing the sin as far as the sin is known has healing power.

    If you've not treated your body as holy to God and to your spouse, then begin repentance before the Lord. Confess your sin as far back as you've been practicing impurity before Him. If your wife is aware of your unfaithfulness, then confess to her your repentance, sorrow for the destruction it has caused to your relationship, and your endeavor to rise to the call to purity for the glory of God.

    For those of you with sons, I don't know of a more important aspect of training for manhood than to teach your sons how holiness applies to relationships with the opposite sex. When does a man start practicing unholiness and impurity in the marriage relationship? He begins by treating all girls as objects to use. That's what recreational dating is all about in our culture. Our sons need to learn to practice holiness toward their wives before they know who they are! They should learn to apply this lesson as young men, because that's the primary target group of the apostle's letter. If you would like to learn more on this, check out the new Teenagers 101 series, especially the message Christ-Centered Relationships.

Short Ministry Update from Norm 

1. After five years of work, I finally completed the manuscript for a new book, Anchored in Christ: A Solid Rock in the Storms of Life. The editors are finishing this week with the last chapters and Micah is now formatting the book for print. Please pray for us as we seek God's will as to who is to read and provide credits for the book.

2. A new series of heart-touching messages on the gospel has been recorded and edited entitled, On Fire for the Gospel. This is a compilation of messages I've presented in our church as well at men's retreats recently. These messages make the gospel relevant and practical for daily living. We appreciate your praying for us as we attempt to produce this series in the next two months.

    In the next few weeks we have open doors to reach the hearts of men with the gospel as well as the message of the Spirit of Elijah.

1. God has opened opportunities to minister in Moscow, Russia. I'll be teaching this Mon-Thursday at a YWAM Discipleship Training School during the day. In the evening, at the Pentecostal Union Church (English-speaking), I'll be presenting a family conference.

2. April 1-8, I've been invited to minister in two churches in or near Sibiu, Romania. I'll speak in these churches on Sunday and then teach a group of about 25 pastors during the week. Alma will travel with me if our two grandbabies arrive in the next week (a matter of prayer :-). {Prayer answered! They both arrived last week and all are doing well!}

1. Since none of these groups are able to provide for our travel and lodging expenses, it gives us the opportunity to serve in the name of the Lord and on behalf of those who wish to contribute to support the ministry to them. I'm excited to invite your participation in the way the apostle Paul invited the Philippians. "Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek the profit which increases to your account" (Phil. 4:17). ($3000)

2. We are asking God to provide for another CD duplicator and printer to keep up with the demands for the audio resources. ($4000)

3. It pleased the Lord to fry the network cards of four computers and the motherboard of one computer during a lightning storm last week. These are critical to our ministry and have been either replaced or fixed. ($900)

If God has provided above and beyond your needs and your tithe to your local church, we invite you to consider investing in the ministry of turning the hearts of fathers to God, their wives, and their children to prepare the next generation for the Lord. If you know of a friend whom you think would be excited about serving the Lord in giving to these needs, please share with them and trust the Lord's guidance. Thank you!

New Resources for Your Family 

    This month we are continuing a special for those interested in the Equipping Men and Unshakable Faith video series. Also, we now have study guides for leaders and group participants available to download for all of Norm's series as well as the Equipped to Love book. Also, there is a new CD series for parents and teens, Teenagers 101, with a study guide available as well. All the messages in this series are available individually on CD and include:

*   Run to Win

*   Rethink the Way You Live

*   Preparing Your Teens for Life

*   I'm Old Enough to Make My Own Decisions, Part 1 and 2  

*   Preparing for Christ-Centered Relationships  

*   What About College?  

*   What's a Mom to Do With Teenage Sons?  

*   Passing on the Blessings  

Would you like to be on the Elijah Ministries Prayer Team?

    The backbone of Elijah Ministries is the prayer team who pray diligently for God to turn the hearts of men to Himself, their wives, and their children. Before I leave to speak, I send out a prayer team invitation to those who will intercede for God to work for His glory in us as a team for the Kingdom. Not only is it a blessing to those whom I speak and myself; but it is also a reminder to the team about the direction of their own hearts. If you would like to enter into the labor together with me, you may go to my website and click on "Prayer Team".

    If you haven't visited our website, www.spiritofelijah.com, please stop by sometime. You'll find:

*   Resources to equip you and your family

*   Previous Chariot articles

*   My speaking schedule

*   Free MP3 downloads  

*   Various pages translated and available in Spanish  

*   An online store to purchase resources and make tax-free contributions by credit card