How Does One Overcome Sin?

Great question bearmaster,

Jesus became "strong in spirit." We need to grow in the same way, by making no provision for the flesh, and giving all diligence to add to our faith - virtue, knowledge, perserverence, godliness etc.

Growing stronger in spirit will steady our walk in the Spirit, allowing us to "keep in step." Those who learn to allow the Spirit to lead them, find the "way of escape" sooner and learn obedience as they suffer "resisting" temptation.

Our Lord suffered when He was tempted, and the suffering caused by temptation will work tribulation, which will work endurance, which will work proven character, which will produce hope - and once we begin to abound in hope by the power of the Spirit - our struggles become light and momentary.

Faith is another key element in overcoming. The Spirit speaks to us as we are being tempted, we need only to hear what the Spirit is saying, receive the word by faith, and we will be strengthened in the inner man to deny the lust and obey the Spirit.

The stronger we grown in spirit, the weaker the influence of the flesh becomes. Through the Spirit, we put to death the practices of the body, and become a new creation - as we are being transformed from a carnal orientation to a spiritual one. A new mind, a new heart, strengthened by Christ dwelling in our inner man - His grace reigning in righteounsess. Flesh dethroned - CHRIST power at work in us to will and to do His good pleasure.

makrothumia

Are there practical ways a believer can walk in victory over sin. So I ask what are your thoughts?

Bearmaster.

___________

I thought perhaps you might be asking for personal examples in ones walk with the LORD. The LORD has helped me to overcome much sin in my life. At one time not so long ago I struggled with eating disorder. I would starve myself for a time and then binge eat and make myself sick. This back and forth out of control sinful behavior went on until the LORD set me free from it. I remember very clearly HIM showing me how sinful what I was doing was and then giving me all that I need to cling to HIM and no longer walk in such sin. For me when I am struggling with the fear of sin(which still at times raises its head) I stop everything else I am doing and pray. I pray and keep praying until the fear has passed. Taking captive thoughts and bringing them to the LORD has also been a way the LORD has helped me. I find the more time I spend in the BIBLE, in praying, and sitting at HIS feet the stronger in HIM I grow. I often pray for my faith to grow and for a renewed vision of the cross. Seeing the reality of love, mercy, grace, and sacrifice poured out for me on the cross by JESUS is such a perfect reminder that I do not want to injury the LORD with my sin and I pray that HE would keep me. I think for me the most effective tool in overcoming sin is just holding tight, staying close to the LORD. HE is the answer :)

Thanks for asking. I look forward to others replies as well. Great topic.

God bless
maryjane

One of the ways to grow strong in the spirit is to devote ourselves to prayer individually and corporately with other saints. This builds the realtionship with our heavenly Father as we fellowship with Him in spirit and with our brothers and sisters in Christ as we enjoy spiritual fellowship with them.

The words of Jesus are "spirit and life." If we practice "abiding in Christ" and "His words abiding in us" - we will receive the spiritual life of Christ imparted to us from our abiding in Him and His word in us.

Another way to grow in spirit - is to "quiet our soul". Our "souls" are too loud. They demand to much external stimulation. It is easier to listen to audion messages, inspiriing music, and stimulating fellowship in meetings, than to "be still and know that I am God."

Jesus withdrew to the lonely places - because He wanted to commune with His Father. We need to do the same, if we would experience the same communion He had with the Father.

These are a few things we can pursue and practice.

makrothumia

Hi Bear,

I posted this about a month ago. Forgot which thread for now ( I will look, later). Practical admonitions, no theology.

Here are some "practical" things that the believer can do to stay free from daily defilement.

1. Eliminate the mixture. II Corinthians 6:14-18
2. Beware of Lawlessness Titus 2:14
3. Walk in the spirit of reconciliation Colossians 1:21, Hebrews 12:15
4. Daily consecrate your life on the altar. Romans 12:1
5. Draw your life from the Spirit, not the flesh. Galatians 5:16, I John 2:15,16
6. Subject every desire to one desire. 1 John 2:17
7. Abide in Christ John 15:1-12
8. Endure the discipline of the Father Hebrews 12:5-11
9. Beware of willful sin. Hebrews 10:26-31, 6:4-6

One last admonition:

2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Blessings,
Pilgrim

P.S. Here is the link: Overcoming Sin

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=48726&forum=34&6

Quote: So how does one overcome sin? Particularly those sins that trouble us. What the old writers would call besetting sins.

By faith.. surrender to God fully and he will cleanse you..

God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Acts 15:7-9

Quote: How does one overcome sin?

By not sinning. It really isn't very complicated.

"Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin." ~Oswald Chambers

I came across a CS Lewis quote this morning that also fits the bill: "“One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.”

Much of our sinning is because we refuse to face facts and make little justifications.

I have developed a personal way to "sin less", I am sure I have no patent on it, just one that works for me. I have removed two long time 35/45 year plus friends, and I was able to do it gradually, this helped a lot, I am a widower after 38 years, and just lost my 19 year old son not long ago, so now being alone has brought me closer to Christ I have than I have ever been in 61 years.

While a lot of men and maybe women to, might be ready to begin a new life of partying and etc. I have choose to just spent most of my time alone listening to and worshiping the Lord, I am self employed in a service related business and this also helps me, I am able to pick and choose the folks I want as my customers, and this is nothing new, I have really done this for the past 30 years in my business. I just try, and sometimes it's really hard, to remove myself from the world, I don't want to become a recluse, so I do try and get out to dinners and lunches with good christian men and women.

I have found for me personally, the farther I can remove myself from the world, the less I sin, if that makes sense. I really believe most Christians really want to "sin less" but the folks we hang around with can be a big influence on us, if were not careful on the friends we pick. My "old" friends were a huge influence on my walk,and it was not easy to release them, but if Jesus died to pay my sin debt, the least I can do is pick better friends. I am not saying what I have had to do will work for anyone, some folks just can't give up friends, especially ones that have been around a lifetime, but God told me I could because I am not some folks, I listened to him, and it's help me a whole lot.

My message is, I use to beat myself up thinking it was always me, I could not beat the sin nature, but as I walked away farther from the world, and walked closer to God, you will be surprised when you look back and see the difference in your sins, trust me it's not easy, but it's worth it.
As my signature line says, we all sin, we just need to learn how to sin less and it will grow on you, and you will feel a lot better about yourself.

putting into practice what has already been said by our brethren here will surely be the answer

the verse that comes to mind ,,when Jesus in the same place said twice

pray that you do not enter in to temptation

I think that is undoubtable the key for the Christian ,rather then talking about god ,we need to talk to god ,,,,also we are fooling our selves, if we think we will see a sin defeating revival,, wile we push our convictions and knowledge on other Christians, in the name edification
I think this secret sin needs to be repented of , it is surly a sin if we elevate our personal ministry, of rebuking and reproving ,exhorting and edifying ,and expounding scripture above or in place of blessed secret and group prayer ,,,,

power over sin will be more apparent, when we call sin sin and confess it for what it is

living in sin in this way will hinder ,the power to defeat other sins ,,it will only give strength to the law of sin that is working in our flesh ,making it imposable to a known victory ,and move towards maturity and biblically the perfect man

one of our brothers here said faith is a key ,,,

I know in my life ,being set free from habitual idolatry ,regarding a darling sin ,called marawana addiction ,,,faith was the only way i walked away from that life long idol ,,,,I was under strong conviction for a few years ,,,and came to the conclusion if god required be to give up that he would set me free and

if the son sets you free you will be free indeed

faith in gods power and love for us ,is a must ,,and boy oh boy do I need to remind my self about that

blessings

There are people who experience a seperation from God's closeness or His presence because of persistent sins and those that don't seem tied down to them. But when that time of temptation comes the Lord looks to see what will happen in a persons heart. Once the believer falls prey to their sin the Lord begins to draw back his presence.

I experienced this for many years and my life was that of a Yo-yo. Incredibly unbalanced. And the close walk I longed for would never materialize.

But the scriptures say Draw near to God and he will draw near to you, Then the next verse tells us how to do this. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded.

The forum here is filled with people who will enter into a topic and want to tell how a person overcomes their sins by no self effort. The simple answer to them is to just consider it done. Either those people have a different make up to many others and aren't so drawn to temptation or they are filled or baptised with the spirit.

But they need to remember that firstly the Lords will for us is to be conformed to the image of Christ. This means your soul or your flesh life too has to be conformed to Christ. So the Lord allows us to fall into times of temptation so the conforming into Christs presence will have a chance to take place.

This is the hard road the road that leads to life.

The 2nd is that the only way mentioned in scripture of over coming sins is not the way the faith people teach it.

For my own self I was brought up in the faith movement and was always led to believe that my friends were overcoming their sin by faith alone.

But when God put a sentence of death through an illness on my head I had no other choice but to begin to deny my flesh and my sinful thought life. I was in great fear because I knew I wasn't ready to die.

I had been promiscuous and had been hateful and unforgiving of many people and family members.

I asked God to give me two months to change. I hardly slept and I decided to go out on the hills each night and pray and try to deny the wicked thoughts and temptations which were coming at me with even more force once that they knew I was trying to resist them.

As the evil thoughts ad temptations came to me I would forcefully reject them out of hand. I began telling satan that I was going to obey God now even though it may give me a heart attack in the process.

It was after a couple of months that the biggest sins in my life began to lose their power over me.
The Lord began to draw very close to me and we would commune in fellowship in love together up on th hills at night.
He began to send birds to come near to me. They would come to wake me up after just an hours sleep and he would send them to fly over me. And Gods glory seemed to be in them.

So that is my own story that we are to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature. And it is done through the thought life.

praise god for that testimony david

what im seeing is god has performed victory of sins in his children's life in different ways ,,,,

iv never got victory of any sin by speaking to satan as you did but in all honesty , believed scripture

it said to me that all who come to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him

Jesus said if we believe in our hearts that we will receive what it is we ask for in prayer it will be done for

Jesus said if the son sets you free you will be free indeed

david I think it would not be write to assert that god wont set us free from sins if we ask and believe and trust him

I think like you said it is done through thought life ,,but also holding of to the promises and concentrating our trust in jesus , is a thought process that is induced by gods spirit ,that seems to over ride evil temptation

the moderator paul west was given some great insight by god regarding the mortification of the deeds of the body ,,which go much deeper then the basic principle that has helped me up to this point ,,,,have you read any of his books

I think as we are all of one body ,it seems to me a good idea take it all on board ,,that what I will do ,,thanks for telling how god has given you a victory till now

blessings

Yes I do agree with you Gary. It does happen. Maybe I was asserting. It's hard to get the perfect balance sometimes.

I haven't read any of Pauls books. In fact I don't know where I could find them .

by bearmaster on 2013/5/2 3:39:33

The Psalmist writes that one can keep his way pure by keeping it according to the word of God. Also the Psalmist writes that by treasuring the word of God in his heart he will not sin against God.

Does the word of God Olay a vital role in helping one overcome sin?

Bearmaster.

__________

With out getting into a debate :). I believe it is the HOLY SPIRIT which draw us to the LORD, point us in the direction we need to be going that is vital. The WORD is a tool that the LORD uses and as such it is of value but without the HOLY SPIRIT, with out JESUS the Bible becomes just words on a page. Sadly I know many who have read the Bible from cover to cover and find it interesting literature but because they have no relationship with JESUS there is no life in it. The BIBLE does play a very important role in our walk with HIM, it is the very words of GOD to us because HE has given us eyes to see and ears to hear but to those who are not twice born it does not hold the same value because they do not know or understand of the riches that lay within...

God bless
maryjane

I have found 2 things to be extremely helpful in overcoming sin in my life:

1) A person behaves in a manner consistent with the way in which he views himself. If you identify yourself with being a sinner who is just struggling to "get the victory" you will not be successful. You are trying to at attain victory instead of living out of the new life of victory in Christ that Jesus has obtained for you already. Your new-born spirit-man is in Christ and is already victorious over sin and is perfect. We do sin in our mortal bodies because of the flesh and our acquiescence of our minds and wills to follow the flesh. I am not saying we are sinless. The problem is with the yet-to-be fully sanctified flesh and our minds which are still in the process of being renewed. Your spirit is in Christ and is the REAL YOU. It is perfect. Identifying with the spirit man in Christ is the normal Christian life. Again, I do not dispute that I have flesh which leads me to sin and I am responsible for those sins. The main point I am trying to get across is that as Christians we do not struggle and try to get victory, we stand in the victory Christ won for us. When temptation comes don't own that as something belonging to you. Refuse and reject it because it is contrary to the nature of Jesus in whom we abide and have life. This leads to my second discovery from the Bible about overcoming sin. I am going to quote J. B. Stoney here who was a 19th century saint from the Plymouth Brethren fellowship in England. In this narrative Isaac represents grace and the spirit whereas Ishmael represents works and the flesh. Keep that in mind. We begin where Isaac is "weaned" and is celebrated at a feast in Abraham and Sarah's house.

2)Isaac's place was acknowledged in Abraham's house on that day, and this drew forth the reviling of Ishmael, which the apostle calls persecution. "As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now". But how do we enjoy this practically?

This is an extremely important and interesting question for us. We first find how bad Ishmael is; the incompetence of the flesh as in Romans 7, but concurrently with it, the enjoyment of what Christ is. When did persecution, as Paul calls it, when did the scoffing of Ishmael come out? When Isaac gets his place. It was a festive day, and I dare say many could look back historically to when this festive day was known to their souls. When did you get a sense in your hearts that you wanted to be so entirely free from the flesh, that you felt you would not tolerate it any longer -- not merely as to doctrine, but that you could not tolerate it? When did you arrive at that day when you felt it was not to be tolerated practically? When you learned that the flesh was opposed to Christ, and at the same time that He was possessor of your whole heart, so that you felt the flesh had no right to be there; you do not tolerate it. Therefore the apostle says, "Not I, but Christ". I call this the coronation-day, that is, when Christ is crowned King of my heart. It is not that He has the first place there; that He always had through divine grace, but He has got every place, that is, I acknowledge His sway from center to circumference. I have found out the flesh. What then? Ishmael must go out. Well, it is not a pleasant thing to accept that I am dead, and therefore God says to Abraham, "Let it not be grievous unto thee; cast out the bondwoman and her son". That is non-toleration; I accept what God has done with the flesh. Well, what then? I am at liberty .

One may ask, Does the flesh never come again? It does, but you treat it now as an intruder; and you can say to it, You are an intruder, you have no right to come here; you are supplanted, and you have no place here. You may say, But Ishmael knows the house well; thrust out at the door, he can come in at a window. No doubt he does; he was fourteen years in it, and that is a long period. But then, I say, he has no right. I am crucified with Christ, that is the first thing. This would not suffice to keep him out, he knows how to master you too well. But also you have a new power. If you turn to chapter 5: 17, You will read, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye may not do the things that ye would". I have got the Spirit of God to maintain me free from the intruder, and He only preserves me from the flesh.

But someone will say, You will be very often disturbed. Yes; but what does that make me feel? It makes me feel the greatness of the Spirit resisting the flesh, which is ever intruding. But how do you keep safe? By dependence on the Spirit who is my power against the flesh. In chapter 6, the apostle says, "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting". You see how you are brought into the new order, "everlasting life". Well, you say, What is sowing to the Spirit? I am led by the Spirit. It is a wonderful thing, I speak of it timidly, but earnestly; to think I have got such a Friend, such a Master, so to speak; but it is not a Master really, but One who identifies Himself with me, and wants to lead me exactly according to Christ.

This is a subject I have been researching for a while as I am developing a sincere hatred for sin. I say 'developing' as I hope I never arrive at a point where I am at ease with the subject of sin. I am astonished and and in anguish over the sin I've drugged the Holy Spirit through since I have become a believer.

I came across this sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones that concisely addresses this subject. I feel further words will not adequately persuade you to listen although I do so wholeheartedly.

Greg noted that all of his sermons have now been available for free download from the mljtrust.org and this is where this sermon comes from.

Here is the link:

http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/sin-and-the-body/

I believe once you've heard this with 'ears to hear' you will understand how directly this message fits in with this thread.

May God bless you in Christ Jesus!
Wayne

PS: Thank God for His mercy and abundant grace...

Blaine asked:

"Are there practical ways a believer can walk in victory over sin. So I ask what are your thoughts?"

Here is my testimony.

Victory has always been elusive when I focus on methods in overcoming sin. There may be a temporal relief only to have it return with a vengeance.

I had a very bad besetting sin. I read all I could in learning how to deal with it. Scripture memorization was noted a lot; pleading the blood was encouraged, prayer, Bible study, you name it. But what was wrong with everyone of these is that a person's attention was on method. It will fail - every time.

But if you want enduring results you have to be yoked up with the Master, walk with Him. He is the 'lead horse', if you will. You do not lead Him - he leads YOU! You feed on Him, talk with him, stay close to Him. Then the methods the LORD uses to deliver one are varied - there is no one-size-fits-all. All are tailor made just for you!

In my past there were some serious offences that bring me grief when I get lukewarm in my walk with the LORD. But when I am walking close with the LORD these things are viewed as a blessing that is forcing me to stay close to the Master. I think this is why God allows these things to happen to us to teach us how weak and vulnerable we are. We just ain't no match for sin and the devil.

My testimony for whatever it is worth..

ginnyrose