THE FIRE MUST NOT GO OUT

CHECK YOUR FIRE

Love is a key that binds a couple together, and without it Marriage loses its savour. It is a burning fire kindled at the beginning of marriage, when it burns with great intensity. Lack of deliberate effort to sustain the fire could make it lose its fervency or go out completely. As you reflect on the intensity of your first love with the benefit of hindsight, is the fire still burning? May the Lord cause a rekindling of the fire of your love this week, and cast out every fire extinguisher from your home in Jesus name.

From our text, which comes in the context of the poetic book of two intimate lovers, love is presented as a very strong unifying factor. It depicts true love as one that demands total possession of each by the other. It is indestructible and beyond value.

In Songs of Solomon 8:6&7:

• Love is a key that binds a couple together, and without it Marriage loses its savor.
• Love is as strong as death, hence it is unchangeable by time and circumstances.
• Love is compared with jealousy that is unyielding as the grave.
• Love is a burning fire kindled at the beginning of marriage, when it burns with great intensity. The fire of love burns in the heart, but manifest itself both in words and in action. While both manifestations are key in marriage, credence should be given to manifestation in action above manifestation in words. 1 John 3:18.

There are two reasons why you need to check your fire:

1. To be sure whether it is the real fire or strange fire. Love is the real fire, while Lust is the strange fire. Lust, which manifest itself in various forms leads to death. James 1:13-15. As stated in our general theme, the fire of love must not go out, but the fire of lust must be put out completely before it consumes both the carrier and the contact. Lust, as a strange fire burning in the heart of people, manifests itself in various forms including:

• Rape - the crime of using force to have sex with somebody. Deut. 22:23-29 ( NIV)
• Incest- sexual activities between two people who are considered, for moral or genetic reasons, too closely related to have such a relationship. Lev 18:6-18 (NIV) Lev 20:11-12, 14, 17, 19-21. (NIV)
• Homosexuality - sexual attraction to or sexual relations with a person of the same sex. Lev 20:13 (NIV)
• Lesbianism – sexual attraction and sexual relation between women. Romans 1:26-27 (NLT)
• Fornication – sexual intercourse between two consenting adults who are not married to each other. 1 Cor. 6:18 (KJV)
• Adultery – voluntary sexual relations between a married person and somebody other than his or her spouse. Lev 20:10 (NIV); Heb. 13:4.
• Bestiality – sexual activity between a human being and an animal. Lev 20:15-16 (NIV).
• Masturbation - this is an act of an individual stroking his or her genitals with the aim of causing sexual pleasure to gratify fleshly or lustful desires. It is part of what the Bible calls sexual perversion. Romans 6:12-14. KJV.
• Fellatio – the sexual stimulation of a man’s genitals using the tongue and lips. It is also called oral sex. It is obscene, immoral, and impure. Eph. 5:3-6 (NLT)
• Anal Sex
• Pedophilia
• Zoophilia
• Urophilia
• Trans-sexualism
• Pornography

The big question, therefore, this morning is: Suppose the fire of love burning in your heart, is it the real fire or a strange fire? Have you done a proper check of the fire that is burning in the heart of that person you are relating with before you get consumed by it?