From Temptation to Triumph: Victory over Habitual Sins (Part 1)

Preface

In this three-part study, we’re going to discuss God’s everlasting love, His complete forgiveness of our sins, and what Scripture teaches about overcoming the temptations that lead us into sinful behavior. While this study applies to all sins, it is more specific to habitual sins: behaviors we know are wrong yet continue to do anyway. This can include both habits and addictions.

A habit, like gossiping or lying, can be difficult to overcome simply because we repeat these behaviors so often that they become routine. We get so accustomed to doing something that it’s just difficult not to do it anymore. This pattern of behavior can lead to our habits becoming an addiction.

Addiction is far more complex than a habit and often more challenging to overcome. While people can become addicted to porn, gambling, and other activities, it’s important to be aware that addiction to substances like alcohol and certain drugs can cause physical withdrawal symptoms when stopped too quickly. These symptoms may require monitoring and medical care to be safe. Before making any changes, be sure to check with your doctor.

Despite these challenges, we do not have to live in the bondage of any kind of sin. We may feel trapped, but that is a lie straight from Satan. He would like to keep us believing his lies, but God’s Word is truth and it will always set us free (John 17:17, 8:32). So let’s get started.

Introduction

It’s a curious thing, isn’t it? They say wisdom comes with age, yet sometimes it feels like as adults we’re still stumbling around in the dark. I remember when I was a little girl, snuggled up in bed, saying my prayers before falling asleep. Every night I would ask God to forgive me for the things I had done wrong that day. And with the unwavering trust of an innocent child, it never even crossed my mind that my actions were too bad to be forgiven, or that I repeated them too often. I simply knew Father was right there listening to everything I said to Him, and that He forgave me.

As an adult, there are times I find myself doubting that God really forgives me every time I repent. And the strange thing is, I only feel that way about my own sins, not those of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Throughout the years, I’ve discovered that other people experience this same doubt.

Why is it so easy for us to believe that others are forgiven, but when it comes to ourselves we think we’re either:

• not good enough
• our sins are too numerous
• our sins are too bad
• we keep repeating the same sin, therefore we can’t be forgiven

I think we can all relate to feeling this way at some point in our lives. We have our own weaknesses, and many have had to overcome habitual sins in one form or another.

I’ve certainly had to break my own sinful habits and addictions. As much as I loved God and desperately wanted to do better, it took a great deal of time, prayer, and effort to overcome and achieve victory. God was with me, yet for reasons I didn’t understand at the time, He chose not to make it easy. I remember questioning why God relieved some people of their addiction effortlessly, while others, including myself, continued to struggle. During those times, I often felt unworthy of forgiveness. Here’s how it typically played out:

• I do something that I know I shouldn’t, something I had promised not to do again after the last time I did it.
• Immediately afterward, I feel awful that I allowed myself to fall into the same trap. With guilt and remorse, I cry out to God, promising never to do it again and begging for forgiveness.
• Going forward I am consumed by guilt and shame, feeling unworthy to even talk to God because I let Him down again. I doubt that God will forgive me this time, because why would He continue to forgive the same sin when I keep repeating it?
• As time goes on, I still pray and talk to God, but a distance grows between us. I struggle to know what to say in my prayers and feel lost on how to fix our relationship.
• Eventually, all those negative feelings begin to fade. There are a couple of reasons for this: I push them to the back of my mind, and I’ve managed to “be good” by not engaging in that same sinful behavior for a while. As I keep my promise, I begin to believe that God will accept and forgive me. I feel His love and acceptance, which in turn makes me feel closer to Him. My prayer life improves significantly, and I find myself talking to Father throughout the day just like I used to. It feels awesome to have God’s presence, love, and peace in my life once again.

What do you think happens next? Unbelievably, I commit the same sin again! This vicious circle repeats over and over.

Sounds familiar, right? It’s a horrible feeling. The sin could be anything we know is wrong, and are trying to stop. We love God and want to please Him, so it hurts us when we fall short.

Here’s what I want you to think about, though: If you didn’t love God, you wouldn’t feel guilt, shame, remorse, or unworthiness. You wouldn’t care one way or another. The very fact that you feel regret shows that you truly want to change your behavior and please our Heavenly Father.

You know something? God sees your struggle with sin and knows when you are sincerely trying to obey Him. Despite your mistakes, He loves you deeply. His infinite love is the reason He gave us the most precious gift He could: His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

The Depth of God’s Love

God makes it clear that His love for us doesn’t depend on how worthy we are, and we thank Him for that, right? Because let’s face it, we all fall short. We sin daily, in one way or another. Despite God’s hatred of sin, His love and mercy for us are everlasting. His desire is for all of His children to repent and receive eternal life (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4).

Let’s read some verses that focus on the God’s love.

Don’t worry ladies, the word son, G5043 in the Strong’s Concordance, means ‘a child – daughter or son.’

God, the creator of everything that exists, chooses to call us His children. A parent’s love for their child is unmatched. Think about how much you love your own children. When they misbehave and make the same mistakes over and over again, do you stop loving them? Of course not. You don’t like what they do, but you love your children despite their misbehavior – even when they know their actions are wrong and stubbornly choose to do them anyway, over and over again.

Yet, the love we have for our own children doesn’t even come close to our Heavenly Father’s love, so we can be sure He feels the same way about us when we misbehave or sin. In fact, God’s Word declares He does:

To really understand the meaning of this verse, we need to examine the words ‘Pitieth’ and ‘fear.’

So, this verse is saying that just as you have deep love, tender affection, and compassionate mercy for your own child, God has that same love for those who revere (respect, honor, and worship) Him. That’s a beautiful truth to remember about how much our Father loves us.

God’s Word describes His love for us in numerous other passages throughout the Bible. Let’s look at a few verses in Romans:

Notice this verse doesn’t say that God waited until we stopped sinning to love us. The truth is, we’re all sinners. None of us are worthy, and as long as we’re in these flesh bodies we never will be. But Christ is worthy and it’s only through His shed blood we can be forgiven, justified, and redeemed. Jesus was perfect and never sinned. He loves us so much that He laid down his life, paying the price on the cross for our sins. There is no greater love than that.

Don’t miss the importance of what is being said here: nothing will separate us from the love of God. What an awesome truth. I don’t think that we truly comprehend what that means, because as Isaiah 55:8-9 declares, our thoughts and ways are not God’s thoughts and ways. This makes it difficult for us to truly grasp the depth of His love or understand how He can continue to forgive us when we keep messing up. Yet, we have His word that He does, and our Father never breaks his promises. When He says something, you can count on it being true 100% of the time.

Let’s read a few more verses, starting with what is probably the most well known verse in the entire Bible. It sums up God’s love for us perfectly:

Do you believe in Christ? If you do, then God promises you eternal life. Period. There is nothing in all of God’s Word that says “If you never sin again” or “If you’re perfect” then I’ll love you and give you eternal life.

“whosoever believeth” means that this promise is open to all of God’s children who believe in Jesus. We’ll talk about the deeper meaning of the word ‘believeth’ in a few minutes.

First, would you like to learn a profound truth in this verse (John 3:16)? It speaks of the three world ages. We need to look up the word ‘everlasting’ in the Strong’s.

As you can see, the word ‘everlasting’ is not simply referring to now through eternity. It also encompasses the very beginning (the world that then was, 2 Peter 3:6); the age when God created our souls and we were still in our spiritual bodies.

Everlasting life means past, present, and future; world without end. The beautiful truth is that our Father has loved us far longer than you may realize, way before your soul inhabited your flesh body. Since the moment God created your soul you have never ceased to exist, and if you believe in Christ, you never will.

Christ was sent here so that we can be saved from the spiritual (eternal) death of our souls. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but Christ defeated death when He was crucified and rose three days later. He did this for us, to restore our relationship with God.

We are not condemned because we can repent and be forgiven if we believe in Christ.

Belief is more than knowledge

What does it mean to believe in Christ? There’s more to the phrase ‘believeth in’ than to simply know something is true.

Let’s turn to the Strong’s Concordance again to look up the word ‘believeth,’ so that we fully understand the depth of its meaning:

As shown, we have to do more than just ‘believe’ by its most simplistic definition. After all, even Satan and evil spirits believe God is real. They know He exists (James 2:19), but that knowledge is not going to save them. Why? Because Satan and his evil spirits hate God. They certainly don’t trust, obey, or commit their lives to Him.

If we truly believe in Christ, it means we not only believe in His existence, but we also entrust our spiritual well-being to Him. We commit our lives to Him and trust in Him alone for our salvation. This complete trust and commitment cause us to yield to God’s ways and obey Him. We won’t be perfect, right? But we do try.

We need to put our faith into action and live our lives committed to the ways of God instead of the ways of the world. Is it hard? Sure, it can be challenging at times, especially when trying to overcome an addiction or a deep-seated habit. We may stumble, but our Heavenly Father has not left us alone in this world. He would never abandon His children. By staying in His Word, God will change our hearts (Deuteronomy 30:6), and He promises we are always forgiven and justified when we repent. That promise alone shows how much God loves us, but it gets even better than that!

Coming Up

Part 2 of this lesson will focus on what it really means to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father. We’ll also learn what God teaches us about forgiving others, and I believe that includes ourselves.