Now, you have repented. You have rebuked the devil and your guilt has left you. You have gained salvation, but how do you sustain it?
Here, I will highlight 5 ways to help you fight sin.
1. The Bible.
The greatest weapon against sin is the word of God. And what is this word of God? It is the Gospel. The good news. The book of hope, love and every good thing that proceeds from Heaven. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
This is one of the numerous verses in the Bible that emphasizes the importance of the Holy Scriptures in the journey of our faith. The Bible is full of powerful verses to rebuke sin and temptation and even bad thoughts. I will list a few.
i. 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
ii. 2 Corinthians 10:5, Casting down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
iii. Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is truth, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
Inside the Bible, we will find that Christ is with us, encouraging us to walk in obedience and depend on His power and strength in time of temptation, but we may not know this unless we read his word.
Read Hebrews 12.
2. The Holy Spirit.
Another powerful weapon against sin is the Spirit of God, which is God himself. They are inextricable. Just as we are inextricable with our spirit. So, when you ask for the outpour of the Holy Spirit, youre basically asking for God himself. And when the Spirit of God comes upon you, He challenges your flesh; the part of you that desires to sin. The spirit of God will never allow you do anything that is contrary to the will of God. What is contrary to the will of God? Sin.
The Holy Spirit isnt just an estranged name, or the least talked about person in the Trinity. He is your friend, your advocate, your teacher, your counsellor, your helper, and in Jesus name, he is at your beck and call whenever you need him. For Christ has promised in John 14:16, I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.
1 Corinthians 3:16, tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so we must call on him to take full possession and control of your bodies, our hearts and our life. Because without him, we are nothing but empty vessels.
In Romans 8:8-9, the Bible says: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God but those that are in the Spirit. You, however are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you
In vs. 14-15, it says: For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoptions as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father!
You need the Holy Spirit to help you perform as a better Christian, so that you will not be half-baked in the Spirit, and thereby be disqualified from Heaven. You also need him to interpret the Bible for your better understanding. You need him to fill your soul, and to quicken your mortal body. The Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. He is a perfect Spirit, and as said earlier, he will never allow you do anything contrary to the will of God.
For he, is the source of our holiness.
Read Romans 8.
3. Love for God.
Imagine your sister, brother, father or mother is in need of a kidney. Your decision to give them one of yours is not because your 2 kidneys are too many. It is because you love them, and you dont want to see them hurt. Lets say you give them one of your kidneys. Years later, another of your family needs a kidney. You could consider it, but the Doctors, friends and everyone would tell you its a silly idea, because, you would be giving up your life for that person.
But then, have you heard of Jesus? A man that gave up his life for the freedom of Mankind.
John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
No man, not your relatives, your spouse or best friend, or even your Spiritual director will love you as God loves you. Christ loved us to death and back, so we may have dominion over death. His love is so powerful that it can covert even the hard heartened sinners, that if only they can acknowledge this love, it will be humble them into reciprocating this love by being obedient disciples of his kingdom.
The truth is, as Christians, we all love God. But, we dont know how to reciprocate this divine love of his. Because we dont fully understand to what extent God loves us. First and foremost, God humbled himself, left the comfort of his Kingdom, took on flesh and dwelt amongst us as Jesus Christ. Then, he decided to be one of the poorest in his time, (To teach us a thing or 2 about humility; how great He is, that God himself practices what he preaches.), suffered pain, sorrow and anguish, and even though he had the power to escape death, he didnt. Matthew 26:53, Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels?
We dont have to do much honestly. All we have to do is to acknowledge Gods love in our life, in our hearts. Pray about it. Pray that Holy Spirit that fill your heart with his love, and I tell you, a day will come when you will love God so much, that you had rather died, than do anything contrary to his word.
John 14:15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. With the love of God in your heart, sin becomes horrific, because you love him so much, you dont want to hurt him.
It is also one of our Christian duties to love God. In Deuteronomy 6:5, it says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
God, our one true love, who died for us, knowing all too well that we may still reject him.
I was on Christian Instagram one day, and I came across a video, where someone asked a man, why God was so harsh, and how we can claim that God loves us if he could punish the world for Adam and Eves sins.
To which the man replied that, God instructed Adam and Eve, that if they should eat from the tree that gives Knowledge, they would die the same day. However, when they ate the fruit, and discovered that they had sinned against God, they did not die. Instead, they discovered that they were naked, and then, the Bible recorded that God himself, used his hands and made clothes for them out of animal skins.
And I felt that.
That is exactly what even an earthly father would do. Yes, he will punish you for your sins, because every evil has consequences, but he will not stop loving you.
1 John 4:19, We love him, because he first loved us.
4. Will to fight.
Temptations are traps set by the devil to lure us away from God, and frankly speaking, a vast majority of Christians have fallen and are still falling for it. The devil is malicious, he knows how well to set traps for each of his prey. But, these powerful traps are not strong enough to overcome your will. Your will to fight.
Of course, when temptations come our way, we dodge, fight and rebuke, but to what extent? And are you fighting as a victim or as a victor?
Hebrews 12:4, In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
First of all, for you to fight these temptations, you have to know what they are.
Say for example, youre struggling with the sins of the flesh. Lets narrow it down to Masturbation. How often are you alone? How long do you stare at your undressed body in the mirror? What kind of books do you read? What kind of movies do you watch? What kind of songs do you listen to? What kind of thoughts usually come to your head? What kind of conversations do you have with your friends? What kind of your friends do you have?
Every evil is inspired by something or someone. By the time, you begin to do the check and balance in your life, you will discover all the traps that the devil has set for you. These loopholes need to be covered up, and all ungodly ropes need to be cut off. In this journey of our faith, we must learn to let go of anything and anybody that encourages us against the will of God. Matt 18:8-9, And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands and feet to be thrown into eternal life. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
I have a friend. We were supposed to move into an apartment together. Well, we were thinking about it. And while calculating the pros and cons of that decision, I realized that it could do me harm to live with her. But, God, wasnt it less costly and more fun to live with a friend? I had 2 options. Pay for an apartment with her, or move somewhere else entirely. It broke my pocket, but I had to do what was better for my soul.
Victim or Victor?
Are you fighting with a weak spirit or are you fighting with the conviction that Jesus is your sword? Are you only resisting temptations physically or are you battling against them with prayer. Brothers and Sisters who share in my Catholic faith, how often do you go to confession?
Before I made my decision, I would go back and forth in my head, even though I knew the right thing to do in my heart. But I was just so hesitant, you know? And scared too, of telling her that Id rather we stayed separately. I prayed about it. I asked God to show a sign that would lead me to the right decision. And he did. He convinced me in my spirit, and I just knew that if I moved in with her, yes, I will enjoy a few benefits, but at the cost of something huge.
You will even discover that even after you have done all these, other and even stronger temptations will come, because the devil will never stop; he is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
And that is why Jesus has warned and advised us in Matt 26:41, Watch and Pray so that you will not fall into temptation. We must also be alert, so that we will not be easily distracted by this world, our fleshy needs and desires, and the scheme of the enemy. When we live with the eager expectation of Christ return, we will be more likely to keep our lives pure and our hearts ready to meet him.
Salvation is free, but you must want it. It is your Will to fight that will fan the flame of the Holy Ghost in to action. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Love your neighbour, but protect your soul.
5. Practice Virtues.
After repentance and receiving salvation, your life becomes new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. We are expected to change, but change does not come overnight. It is a gradual process, and this process includes doing the opposite of what you use to do when you were in the flesh.
Were you addicted to drugs and alcohol? Well, try sticking to Vitamin C and water now.
Were you a prostitute? Chase purity and Chastity. Were you easily angered? How about practice patience. Were you the prideful type? Now, I encourage you in Christs name to practice humility.
Above all, practice Love.
1 Corinthians 13:13, So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
Matt 22:39, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Love encompasses all virtues, for if you love your God and your neighbor, you will not sin against them.
This journey is not an easy one, and so I recommend your strength and your will. As we devote our source of wisdom and knowledge to the Bible, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love and reverence for God, to enable us fight sin and practice virtues, may we comforted by Christ smile on the last day, Amen.
Hebrews 12:14, Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see God.