I believe that most people confuse a spiritual marriage made by God to one of the many contractual or covenant marriages made by man. And for a fact in the state of Missouri, it says that marriage is a civil contract. This has to be a lie in Gods eyes, for He says;
Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Matthew 19:5
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Matthew 19:6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mark 10:8
And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
What a fallacy it is to presume that man can marry two people. That is something that only God can do!!! Man contrives all kinds of methods to control or keep two people together for many reasons. Simply put, marriage is a condition of the heart, and sometimes only the person and God know that condition. The woman at the well thought that only she knew that she wasn't in a marriage. But when Jesus asked her to get her husband she said that she had no husband. Then Jesus told her what she thought nobody knew except herself, that she had been married five times, but the one that she was with now was not her husband. She was astounded to find out that someone else knew that, because she had not told anyone. How many people pretending to be married are not married in God's eyes, and how many that are married in God's eyes are not in man's eyes.
Likewise, fornication is a condition of the heart. Flippant sex without commitment is fornication, but certainly sex with a commitment of the heart is not fornication, as indicated by these scriptures.
1 Corinthians 7:9
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
Corinthians 7:36
But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
May the callings and gifts of the spirit be in operation to guide, instruct, and protect those in the "Body of Christ". We live and see a fallen world all around, and more and more prevalent in the christians.
Looks like you've had plenty of scripture thrown at you. My experience is certainly yes to your questions, although I never really dwelled about praying for the gifts. They just came as I believed. Many times the gifts came when I really didn't want them in a way, as the Holy Spirit is asking something of me that was foreign to my nature, old nature that is. God gives the gifts, you cannot control them, but they do give you a feeling of power and energy that nothing can compare to. Any time I hear someone say that those gifts aren't operating anymore, and I don't care which gift it is you are talking about, I really wonder if that person is a spiritual christian. I was a carnal christian for about 25 years, and that is a weak and miserable time in my life, with satan's hand on all that I did, a complete failure in spite of what other people saw and thought. When I began to believe, which included sincere study for the truth, sincere truth about myself, to myself and Jesus, and confessing the Gospel, walking in faith and believing unto righteousness, God began laying the gifts on me.
Hope this helps you. Study to show yourself approved.
