The Bible presents different resources to help us overcome our sinfulness. In this life, we will never be perfectly victorious over sin ( 1 John 1:8 ), but that should be our goal. With God’s help, and by following the principles of His Word, we can progressively overcome sin and become more and more like Christ.
The first resource the Bible mentions to help us overcome sin is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift God has given us to be victorious in Christian living. In Galatians 5:16-25 , God contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. In that passage, we are called to walk in the Spirit. All believers already possess the Holy Spirit, but this passage tells us that we need to walk in the Spirit, leaving our will under His control. This means that we should put into practice what the Holy Spirit leads us to do in our lives, rather than following the desires of the flesh.
The difference the Holy Spirit can make in the life of the believer is demonstrated in the life of Peter, who before being filled with the Holy Spirit, denied Jesus three times, having previously said that he would follow Christ to the death. Once filled with the Spirit, Peter spoke of the Savior to the Jews at Pentecost in a strong and open way.
You walk in the Spirit trying not to quench the Spirit (as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 ) but rather seeking to be filled with the Spirit ( Ephesians 5:18-21 ). How does one become filled with the Holy Spirit? First, it is God’s choice just as it was in the Old Testament. God chose specific individuals to do a work He wanted them to do and filled them with His Spirit ( Genesis 41:38 ; Exodus 31:3 ; Numbers 24:2 ; 1 Samuel 10:10 ). In Ephesians 5:18-21 and Colossians 3:16 , there is evidence that God chooses to fill those who are filling themselves with the Word of God. So that brings us to our next resource.
(2) God’s Word, the Bible, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that God has given us His Word to equip us for every good work. This teaches us how to live and what to believe, reveals to us when we have chosen wrong paths, helps us get back on the right path, and helps us stay on that path. As Hebrews 4:12 tells us , the Word is living and active, and able to penetrate our hearts to uproot the deepest problems that humanly speaking cannot be overcome. The psalmist speaks about this life-changing power in Psalm 119. Joshua was told that the key to success in overcoming his enemies was not to forget this resource, but rather to meditate on the Word day and night so that he could obey it. He did this, even when what God commanded him to do made no military sense, and this was the key to his victory in his fight to obtain the promised land.
The Bible is a resource that we often treat lightly. We give evidence of it by taking our Bibles to church, or reading the daily devotional or a daily chapter, but we fail to memorize it, meditate on it, or apply it to our lives; we fail to confess the sins it reveals to us or worship God for the gifts it reveals He has given us. We often become either anorexic or bulimic when it comes to the Bible. By feeding on the Word, we take in just enough to stay spiritually alive (but never take in enough to be healthy, prosperous Christians); or we often feed on it, but never meditate long enough to gain spiritual nourishment from it.
If you have not made it a habit to study and meditate on God’s Word, it is important that you begin to do so now. I also suggest starting a journal. Make it a habit not to leave God’s Word until you have written something that benefits you. Some write down prayers that they pray to God, asking Him to help them change in the areas in which He has spoken to them. The Bible is the tool that the Spirit uses in our lives ( Ephesians 6:17 ), an indispensable and essential part of the armor that God gives us to fight our spiritual battles ( Ephesians 6:12-18 ).
A third essential resource in our battle against sin is prayer. Again, this is a resource that Christians pay lip service to but do not put into practice, putting it to very poor use. We have prayer meetings, prayer times, etc., but we do not use prayer the same way that the early church did ( Acts 3:1 ; 4:31 ; 6:6 ; 13:1-3). Paul repeatedly mentions how he prayed for those to whom he ministered. God has given us wonderful promises concerning prayer ( Matthew 7:7-11 ; Luke 18:1-8 ; John 6:23-27 ; 1 John 5:14-15 ), and Paul includes prayer in his passage on preparing for spiritual battle ( Ephesians 6:18 ).
How important is prayer to overcoming sin in our lives? We have Christ’s words to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane before he denied Him. There, while Jesus is praying, Peter is sleeping. Jesus awakens him and says, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” ( Matthew 26:41) .). We, like Peter, want to do what is right, but we cannot find the strength. We need to follow God’s command to keep seeking, knocking, asking… and He will give us the strength we need ( Matthew 7:7 ). I am not saying that prayer is magic. Prayer is simply acknowledging our own limitations and God’s inexhaustible power and turning to Him for that strength to do what He wants us to do, not what we want to do ( 1 John 5:14-15 ).
A fourth resource in our war to overcome sin is the church, the fellowship of other believers. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out two by two ( Matthew 10:1 ). The missionaries in the book of Acts did not go out one at a time, but in groups of two or more. Jesus commands us not to give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but to encourage one another to love and good works ( Hebrews 10:24-25 ). He commands us to confess our trespasses to one another ( James 5:16 ). In Old Testament wisdom literature, we are told that iron sharpens iron; and so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance ( Proverbs 27:17 ). “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” There is strength in numbers ( Ecclesiastes 4:11-12 ).
Many Christians find that having an accountability partner can be a great benefit in overcoming difficult sins. Having another person to talk to, pray with, be encouraged by, and even be rebuked by is of great value. Temptation is common to all of us ( 1 Corinthians 10:13 ). Having a partner or group to hold us accountable can give us the final dose of encouragement and motivation we need to overcome even the strongest sins.
Sometimes victory over sin comes quickly in some areas, and slowly in others. But God has promised us that as
we draw upon His resources, He will bring about changes in our lives. We can persevere in our struggle to overcome sin because we know He is faithful to His promises.