Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

A never ending cycle of committing the sin, then repentance, putting it under the blood, repeat.
I feel like God at some point is gonna cut me off, I need solid suggestions on nailing this to the cross once and for all!!!

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

Pray in the Spirit.

Only God can take away a desire by being full of the Holy Ghost.

There really is no other remedy to put down our sinful nature/appetites.

Our carnality is a direct result of our lack of praying in the Holy Ghost.

When we feel the presence of God, we will reach fullness of joy/pleasure.

The more we feel God, the less our desire of sin is enjoyable.

The less we feel God, the more our desire of sin is enjoyable.

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

1. Keep praying. Pray for victory. Pray to be entirely sanctified and kept by the power of God. Believe you receive the things you ask for, and you SHALL have it.

2. Get in the Holy Ghost, and stay in the Holy Ghost. Everything you need from God is in the Holy Ghost. Including the wisdom to know how to proceed.

3. Confide in a brother and ask for prayer ("confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that ye may be healed", etc.). Do NOT confide in someone online, on this forum or any other. Find someone in real life, in your church if possible. Be careful who you trust, though.

4. Is it an actual sin that is being committed? Some folks get confused, for example they find they feel anger or indignation when they are wronged. It is not a sin to feel the injustice, that's your sense of right and wrong. But it is a sin to hold grudges, looking for ways to "punish" the one who did you wrong, they need to be forgiven and if necessary turned over to God to deal with them in the way He sees fit.

5. Is it a biological addiction? to a foreign substance? the addictive power will have to be broken. sometimes this comes instantaneously through prayer. Sometimes it comes after a prolonged struggle. We are called to refuse to let the flesh reign over us, this may require "detoxing" or going through withdrawal and just dealing with it until the stuff is out of your system. Once that happens the foreign substance loses about 90% of it's ability to capture your will, the remaining 10% is easily defeated by simply saying "no". Even unbelievers kick habits every day, you can too! ESPECIALLY if you have Christ helping you...

6. Is it a habitual behaviour? Examine what leads to the sinful behaviour. Are you setting yourself up for a fall? Ex: the drunk who lingers at the beer section of the grocery store, or hangs out in pubs where drinking is prevalent, or clicking those links you know you ought not to because they'll lead to other things, which in turn lead to other things, which in turn leads to captivity to sin. Remember - only YOU have the ability to make your feet stop at a certain aisle, or type a search query, or click a link, or stare at something. With Christ as your Helper, you can surrender your will to Him instead of to sin.

7. "Reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God." You've been baptised, that means you've died. You've died to sin, you're serving a new master. JUST LIKE you yielded yourself to sin to obey it, now yield yourself to God to obey righteousness. This requires prayer and watchfulness. Too many don't practice the watchfulness part. You need to be on guard, and keep your mind. Keep it on Christ, when temptation pops up start praying and declare the Truth, you are dead to sin and have a new Master whom you must obey. Confess the Word of God as being true, believe it, and it will manifest.

No matter what, IF you fall, get back up immediately and repent and ask God for strength. Also ask God to establish you in holiness. You need both a short term response to temptation and a long-term outlook on your future.

"I would not be denied, I would not be denied. Till Jesus came and made me whole, I would not be denied!"

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

2 Corinthians 7:10-11 (10) For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (11) For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Feeling sorry for your sins comes in two forms: godly sorrow, and the sorrow of the world. The sorrow of the world is a "woe is me" despondency that produces nothing but depression and sadness and surrender and eventually death. Godly sorrow produces something else:

Carefulness - Godly sorrow causes a repentant person to be diligent and searching into "what went wrong" and "how to make it right". The issue becomes the Number One Issue. Sin becomes Public Enemy Number One. Rather than a flip "Lord forgive me" then on with the day's business it cause a person to STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! Put's everything on hold until this matter is taken care of.

Indignation - Godly sorrow produces a righteous anger against sin and weakness and failure. Not just a "oopsie, done it again" attitude, but a bona fide anger against sin, the flesh, temptation, the devil, worldliness, etc. It produces a realisation of just how offensive sin is to God and how dangerous it is to the soul. This indignation produces a determination to punish sin and the devil.

Fear - a healthy fear of God's righteous judgment and wrath against sin goes a long way to moving a soul from failure to repentance to victory. Not just fear of the consequences of the sin that was committed, but a healthy fear of allowing it to happen again.

Vehement desire - Godly sorrow produces a vehement, fiery, fanatical desire to defeat sin and be established in holiness. If there's no desire to be sanctified, there'll be no sanctification.

Zeal - That vehement desire coupled with a healthy fear of God produces zeal, or jealousy for God's sake. One who is a zealot is willing to do whatever it takes for the cause. For the repentant person, the cause is defeating sin and seeing the Power and Grace of God manifested, so that God can get some GLORY. The zealous believer will do whatever it takes to see God vindicated. His honour is on the line, because our sin causes the nations to blaspheme God's Name. How dare we promote such things! Treason! Grab the pitchforks and torches and get down to business and hunt out the traitor (the flesh) and put it to death! (Make sure your zeal is according to knowledge though, it has to be done God's way, not man's, otherwise you fall into blind asceticism and "will worship" that will not produce sanctification.)

Revenge - Godly sorrow working repentance produces revenge. It produces victory against the forces of anarchy and rebellion against God. Think of your temptations as vile brigands and outlaws running loose in God's country (your soul, your life). Godly sorrow will work some careful diligence that will lead to zeal to root out all rebellion and destroy it by the Power of Christ and His Cross. Victory will be obtained, because the forces of holiness are simply not going to stop. Sanctified Terminators, hunting down and destroying the strongholds of the enemy until there are none left.

THAT'S old fashioned Bible repentance, the apostolic way.

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

It is the same voice that led you into temptation that is now telling you God is going to cut you off. God went to a lot of trouble to redeem you...it is not His will that any should perish.

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

WOW!
Thank you very much for uncovering this trick of satan.

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

That is a very good answer! The same devil who tempts you now will condemn you later !!!

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

We are tempted through our lust when we don't have our sensual nature under control of the Spirit

1 John 2:16
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Jesus overcame temptation by prayer and fasting

Mark 1:12-13
12At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness,
13and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

after Jesus prayed and fasted the temptor left him alone

Matthew 4:11 after Jesus fasted, the devil left him and angels came and ministered to him.

Re: Overcoming Habitual Sin
 

i was following this thread and was very inspired by your great insight and teaching using the Word. Pulling down strongholds and defeating familiar spirits are all battles we must fast and pray fervently to win. The Victory for me always becomes deeper understanding, revelation, and sometimes beautiful reality in simple Truth. I encourage anyone struggling to talk in tongues as often as as long as the Lord allows. Time with Jesus Christ flowing freely through us does miracles beyond our wildest dreams.