Getting free from compulsive sins (Part 1) — Believe
If you are a follower of Jesus and struggling with compulsive sin, life can be misery. You can feel like your spiritual life is an endless cycle of fighting temptation, giving in, feeling miserable, repenting, beating yourself up and pretending everything is okay.
You probably experience amazing seasons of peace and happiness, but despair lurks just below the surface. Sometimes you wonder if you should simply detach and walk away. If you are involved in any form of ministry your struggles are probably amplified about 50x. You might even wonder if you really are a true follower of Christ…
First, let me say this: The fact that you are grieved by your sinful behavior is real evidence that you love Jesus deeply and want to please him. If you didn’t, you would not care.
Second, there is hope. The Cross of Jesus offers you hope -- it has sufficient power to set you free.
How does this get worked out in real life? I believe that there are 3 practical steps that, over time, break the power compulsive sin in our lives:
- Believe
- Walk in the Light
- Pursue Healing
These steps are actually cyclical, going deeper each time – and over time you will see God peeling layer after layer of junk from your heart until finally you break free.
In this post I will focus on the first, and most important step – “Believe”
1. Believe
Sin cannot be overcome through any effort apart from faith. No amount of “boundary setting” to keep you from temptation or accountability or prayer or Bible reading or fasting or conference-attending works without faith. The battle against sin, is foremost a fight of faith.
We are saved from the penalty of sin by grace through faith – and in the same way, we are saved from the power of sin by grace through faith. Sanctification is just an extension of justification. To quote John Wimber: “The way in is the way on”.
So, what specific things do we need to believe?
Believe in the Cross
Your sin is no longer an issue between you and God (Rom 5:1,10). Jesus’ suffering was so comprehensive that it covered all your past, present and future sin. In theory, you could sin every moment of the rest of your life, keep asking forgiveness and never run out of grace – that’s how much payment the Cross has made on your behalf.
God loves you freely and fully now, based on the Cross – and your sin cannot affect his posture towards you. On your best day and on your worst day he treats you the same – in his eyes you are already perfectly righteous (2 Cor 5:21).
If you ask: “Then why should I even worry about my sinful habits?” – there are other reasons why you fight to break free. Here are a couple of simple ones: 1) if you don’t, your life will be miserable (Duh!) 2) if you don’t pursue healing, your heart could harden and you could walk away from God.
I’ve listed more reasons here in this post: Sin and Consequences
God is not mad at you. He is saying: “My precious child, you need to be healed. You’re wounded and hurting – I’ll help you get free. Come into my arms -- I love you”. Do you believe this?
Believe in the new birth
I encourage you to really take time to understand the new birth. What really happens when a person is born of the Spirit?
First, your spirit is now alive with respect to God. (Eph 2:4-7) You now are a different person on the inside – you have a new life, with new desires, new power and a new spiritual sensitivity in you (Eze 36:25-27).
Second, the Holy Spirit now indwells you, co-mingling with your spirit. The indwelling Spirit of God constantly energizes your “new inner man”, and is already supplying the power needed to break free from bondage (Rom 8:9-10).
But as long as you are trusting in your efforts to change, you are not walking in faith and receiving grace from the Spirit (Rom 7:21-23). Trust in the sanctifying power of the Spirit in you and the new life already implanted in you.
This is a little counter-intuitive: You must first acknowledge that you (apart from the Spirit’s help) have no power to break free from sin. You really are powerless to change in your own strength. But don’t stop there – give yourself into the Spirit’s hands and believe that He can do in you, what you cannot do in your own strength. As Wimber says: “God helps those who admit their own helplessness”.
God, through the Cross and the new birth, has already given you everything you need to walk in freedom (Rom 6:6). Put your confidence in him and what he has done in you.
Faith involves believing when there is no evidence (or even in the midst of strong counter-evidence) in your life. Abraham clearly saw the deadness of his & Sarah’s physical body – yet believed (Rom 4:19). Will you?
Believe in the goodness of God
Are you really convinced that living life God’s way — in holiness and purity and wholeness — will give you the most satisfying, joy-filled life you can have?
Sin always produces pain and death, in some form (James 1:14-15). Doing life God’s way will result in deep, to-the-core-of-your-heart satisfaction . It’s not an easy path, but a rich and blessed life. In forbidding sin, God is not denying you pleasure and satisfaction – he is saving you from misery and pain and torment. Don’t miss out on your “best life”, your “dream life” because of the seduction of sin (Is 55:2; Ps 36:7-9)
At the root of sinful desire and temptations are lies. Sin offers temporary satisfaction but traps you in long-term misery. God offers both temporal and eternal blessing and satisfaction. You must kill the lie before you can kill the sin. God can satisfy you much more than sin can… right?
So.. Don’t give in to condemnation and shy away from God – he is not mad at you, but wants to heal you. Believe this!
Don’t give in to despair and/or striving – you cannot break free by your efforts or strength. But you can break free by his efforts and strength. Believe this – even when, especially when, you don’t see it (yet) in your life.
Don’t give in to the seduction of sin. It’s a deception – and a trap of misery. God promises to satisfy your heart fully.
NEXT – Getting free from compulsive sins (Part 2) — “Walk in the light”
