FIVE REASONS WHY WE FAIL TO OVERCOME SINFUL HABITS:
1. We try to conquer habits in the energy of the soul.
God wants us to exercise spiritual power over habits. Satan wants us to fight habits with the energy of our souls. Our souls (Greek: psuche) consist of our mental power, our will power, and our emotional power. These are no match for the bondage of sinful habits. Only by spiritual power can we conquer sinful habits.
"For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [conquer] the deeds of the body, ye shall live"' (Romans 8:13).
2. We are double-minded.
A double-minded person has a desire to overcome sinful habits and a conflicting desire to enjoy them God warns that such a person cannot hope for any consistent victory over sin. A double-minded (Greek: dipsuchos soul) person has not yet learned to hate evil; he will be unstable in all of his ways (See James 1:8).
3. We fail to understand what it means to be in Christ.
The only way to consistently overcome sinful habits is to enter into the victory which Christ has already won over them (Romans 6; Colossians 3).
4. We make provision for sinful pleasures.
We give outward evidence of hating evil when we remove from our lives all provisions for evil. This means cleansing the galleries of our minds of evil imaginations and cleansing our homes of all sensual possessions. “Make no provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14).
5. We attempt to hide secret sins.
One of Satan's biggest lies is that secret sins will remain hidden. God makes it very clear that the opposite is true:
"Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). The shame and humbling which come when sins are properly confessed (1 John 1:9) and forsaken (Proverbs 28:13) are actually a part of God's provision to receive grace and to conquer sinful habits. "...God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). (See also 1 Peter 4:1-2)
God wants us to exercise spiritual power over habits. Satan wants us to fight habits with the energy of our souls. Our souls (Greek: psuche) consist of our mental power, our will power, and our emotional power. These are no match for the bondage of sinful habits. Only by spiritual power can we conquer sinful habits.
"For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [conquer] the deeds of the body, ye shall live"' (Romans 8:13).
2. We are double-minded.
A double-minded person has a desire to overcome sinful habits and a conflicting desire to enjoy them God warns that such a person cannot hope for any consistent victory over sin. A double-minded (Greek: dipsuchos soul) person has not yet learned to hate evil; he will be unstable in all of his ways (See James 1:8).
3. We fail to understand what it means to be in Christ.
The only way to consistently overcome sinful habits is to enter into the victory which Christ has already won over them (Romans 6; Colossians 3).
4. We make provision for sinful pleasures.
We give outward evidence of hating evil when we remove from our lives all provisions for evil. This means cleansing the galleries of our minds of evil imaginations and cleansing our homes of all sensual possessions. “Make no provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14).
5. We attempt to hide secret sins.
One of Satan's biggest lies is that secret sins will remain hidden. God makes it very clear that the opposite is true:
"Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). The shame and humbling which come when sins are properly confessed (1 John 1:9) and forsaken (Proverbs 28:13) are actually a part of God's provision to receive grace and to conquer sinful habits. "...God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). (See also 1 Peter 4:1-2)
