Have you ever struggled with a sin that constantly overtakes you, bringing you face to face with your own inability to overcome? Do you ever feel like you could never make it to heaven? Does it ever seem like you are the only one in a pit and there is no way out?

I know the way out. This is not something I heard somewhere or took from someone else’s life but comes directly from my own personal experience.

Prayer in the morning and evening may keep you on the edge of believing, but it will not give you power to overcome sin. That kind of prayer life is the pattern of people who keep falling into the same sin over and over again, I know, I’ve been there. I’d pray to God and ask Him to help me overcome but it never seemed to work, He just didn’t seem to hear me.

If what you have been doing in your life has not given you the victory over sin that you have been looking for, then there needs to be a change. Someone once said, “In order to get the results you have never had, you have to do the things you have never done.”

In order to help people to get well, I get them to add to their life the good things they have not been doing. This principle applies to overcoming every defiling habit, action, and thought.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

How important is it that we overcome every sin?

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne (Revelation 3:21).

If we do not overcome, we lose the crown; and if we lose the crown, we lose everything (Bible Echo January 1, 1893).

What would you do to secure eternal life? What is it worth to you? Do you really believe that it is there for you or is it just a fanciful dream that you hope may one day come true? If you are serious about overcoming sin, try this.

1. “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden”
Get away from your usual daily life and go to Jesus. For instance, take a whole week and set it aside for Him and you to have time together,….alone. Rent a cottage or shut off the phone, get rid of the TV and radio not to mention the newspapers. You will actually need very little food and the kind of food you will need should be very light and easy to digest. You must try to have a clear mind as much as possible.

2. Pray meaningfully
This is not the token “save the children” prayer. For example, open up your Bible to the book of Psalms, and read until you find something that seems to relate to your personal life. Then talk to God about it like you would to your very best friend. This method of prayer knows no bounds and has no time limits. Listen for that still small voice that unveils your true inner self to the eye of your conscience.

3. Study deeply
Along with your Bible, take a book such as The Desire of Ages and study the chapters that have to do with the personal life of Jesus from childhood to Calvary. Mark well the character traits in Jesus that you love the most. You may find that they are the character traits that are the weakest in yourself and ones that you would like to develop.

4. Memorize Scripture Promises
A book on Bible promises can come in handy. Memorize passages from the Scriptures that have wonderful promises for people like us such as Micah 7:18-19; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:8-18. You can walk in nature while you are putting these promises to memory.

5. Eat, sleep, and breathe Jesus
Take along instrumentals of your favorite hymns and play them when you feel tired. Let no one interrupt your communion with the Lord, because your life is dependant upon it.

Your time with our Saviour is to be spent focusing on His perfection (not your sin) and this is what will change you from a weak failing Christian to a channel of light and strength for the glory of God (See 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Remember, the only way to overcome is to keep the perfection of Jesus before you

 

Beware of procrastination. Do not put off the work of forsaking your sins and seeking purity of heart through Jesus. Here is where thousands upon thousands have erred to their eternal loss. I will not here dwell upon the shortness and uncertainty of life; but there is a terrible danger--a danger not sufficiently understood--in delaying to yield to the pleading voice of God's Holy Spirit, in choosing to live in sin; for such this delay really is. Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss. What we do not overcome, will overcome us and work out our destruction (Steps to Christ, 32).

We all have an innate desire for the things which we do not have; this is how we are made. I believe that God gave us this desire that when we beheld the beauty of His character, we would desire to be like Him and thus grow in grace. But as with many other things, the devil has perverted this attribute by redirecting our focus away from beneficence to selfishness, causing us to desire what our neighbor has instead of supplying his needs with the things we have been given.

Since we naturally have a desire for the things which we do not have, it is extremely important that we focus on the beauty of the character of Jesus so that His perfect holiness becomes our only desire

If it seems impossible for you to spend days with Jesus, then the below listed questions may help.

Do you ever have long weekends?
Do you have time off at Christmas?
Do you take a vacation each year?
If you had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery would you take the time off to do that?
If a close friend dies, would you take time to go to the funeral?

Eternal life is many times more important than any of these. The choice is ours: a relaxing long weekend or time spent securing eternal life. My dear friend, use these times and make even more time to spend with Jesus. Victory awaits you and eternal life is worth it!

For those who fight the good fight of faith, there is reserved a crown of glory, a palm of victory, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Let the determination of every soul be, "I must run the race; I must overcome" (Bible Echo, January 1, 1893).