Dear Reader,

I wrote this book to help a specific group of people, so I am going to assume two things are true of you:

First, you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. You have put your trust in Him and His finished work on the cross to save you from your sins. God has taken away the burden of guilt, and has given you new life in His Son.

Second, you still struggle with sin and temptation. You know your sins are forgiven, and you want to live in a way that pleases God, but it really bothers you that you can't stop sinning. Sometimes you manage to resist temptation for a while, but eventually it seems you always fail. As a result, you find yourself burdened with guilt and shame over your actions on a regular basis.

If you find this describes you, welcome to the club—I'm a fellow-struggler myself! But I have found some things of great value in the scriptures that give me hope. I want to share what I've learned and show you the God-given way to overcome practical sin in your life. I don't mean to say that sin is now a thing of the past for me, because it isn't. While success in the spiritual battlefield comes through specific, God-given means, I still have habits of doing things my way. However, I have found the road to victory, and I'm learning how to walk it. You, too, can know the truth of 1 Timothy 1:15 in a practical way: Christ Jesus came into the world, not just to save lost sinners, but to save born-again 'sinners'!

"But wait!," you object. "I'm a saint, not a sinner!" True. But practically speaking, you still sin. Jesus Christ came to save us from all aspects of sin, not just its consequences. Two verses earlier Paul said, "I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent." He no longer lived that way because God was working in him to change him. The same power to change the worst of sinners is available to change you.

This book serves as an introduction to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. In the following pages we'll discover what makes resisting temptation so difficult, and we'll see what God does to make victory over sin possible. I've also included additional articles about the Holy Spirit and sanctification that I hope will help you in your walk with Him. But however helpful you may find this book, it is only an introduction to this topic. I strongly encourage you to spend time studying the Holy Spirit's role in making you like Christ. At a minimum, you should look up the scripture references in the endnotes and read them in context.

Our Common Experience

I grew up in a Christian home with believing parents, and came to salvation at an early age. That, in itself, did not guarantee I would never live on the 'other side of the tracks'. There are many who grew up in Christian homes, but you wouldn't know it from how they live today. I could have been like them, but God has been gracious to me in this respect.

In spite of my lack of 'history', I am like any other born-again believer: I find it difficult to live the Christian life. I don't mean coming to church on Sundays, reading my Bible, or praying. I don't find those things difficult at all. But I do struggle with sin and temptation on a daily basis. I struggle with lust. I struggle with self-control. I struggle with loving others from the heart. The reason I struggle is not because I am unusually weak, but because I have the same fallen human nature we all share in this world. I know it's not God's will for me to give in to temptation, and it seems the only alternative to giving in is to struggle.

Sometimes losing the battle with sin appears to be inevitable. It's not just outright temptation I have to deal with, but the constant thoughts of my mind and the wayward desires of my heart. I want to be more like Jesus—to love like Him, to be patient like Him, to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Him. But Satan regularly attacks my faith, and the world constantly tries to lure me away from my Lord. To make matters worse, my flesh naturally wants to side with Satan and the world. The fight is very tiring. Sometimes the odds for winning the battle against sin appear hopelessly stacked against me.

And yet, Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." ²

There have been times when I felt I could never know the reality of this. The struggle was just too difficult. When I'd fail, I'd beat myself up, and feel like I hadn't the energy to resume the fight.

Perhaps you find what Jesus said difficult to believe. Maybe you've dismissed the easy yoke and light burden as an impossible ideal. You may even doubt your salvation because you haven't been able to "overcome the world." ³ If so, I want to give you hope.

Know this: Jesus did not do away with one impossible standard (the Law ⁴), to replace it with another impossible standard. He knows our struggles, and He has a solution for them. But to grasp this solution, we first need to be confronted with our need for the solution.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul presents to us the doctrine of salvation in a very systematic manner. In the first five chapters, he writes about justification, that is getting into a right relationship with God. He begins with our need for salvation, continues with our inability to save ourselves, and ends with God's solution to our problem.

After concluding the topic of justification, Paul covers sanctification (how we are to live) in the same orderly way. In the next three chapters he describes the need to live right, our inability to do so, and God's solution to our problem. We're going to focus on this second section of Romans, especially the 8th chapter, because it contains the solution we're looking for. But before we move on, it is essential to have a firm handle on the fact that these three chapters are about sanctification, not justification. By this point, Paul has completed his argument that justification is entirely through faith in the finished work of Jesus. ⁵ If you assume parts of chapter 8 are also about justification, it will appear Paul contradicts himself, especially in verses 4, 8, and 13. But there really is no contradiction. Justification provides freedom from condemnation, the eternal consequences of sin. Sanctification provides freedom from the power of sin in this life. It is the latter that Paul is concerned with here, and I shall remind you of this at times. ⁶

An Elusive Reality

In the 6th chapter of Romans Paul describes how we should live once we've been saved. Since we have been freed from sin, we are no longer to walk in it:

This whole chapter of Romans deals with God's intent on how we are to live as born-again believers. Victory over sin is not just an ideal. It is supposed to be a reality. We are not to treat grace as a license to sin. Grace is really a call to live righteously.

However, there's a problem here, and Paul was aware of it, even as he was writing. The problem is that this chapter, taken by itself, presents a standard that is impossible in practice to live by. Paul knew this, and in the next chapter he goes on to describe his own experience in trying to live up to the standard:

It's tempting to think Paul is speaking here of his life before Christ, but that is not the case. He has not interrupted his current topic to go back to an issue he has already fully addressed. Paul has a new heart that delights in the law of God, not just in Jewish traditions. He wants to do good. Besides, before he was saved, Paul was not aware of any inner conflict. He thought he was able to live up to the Law blamelessly. ⁹ Only after salvation did he find he couldn't stop sinning.

So, even as a saved believer in Jesus, Paul found himself doing the things he did not want to do. While delighting in God's Law, he found himself to be a practical slave to sin. ¹⁰ He wanted to do good, but he kept doing evil. His spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak. I identify with this, and I expect you do, too.

Most of us feel the need to struggle to live up to the Romans 6 dead-to-sin-and-alive-to-God standard. But hopefully, through honest self-examination, we realize the struggle is futile, and we get to the point where we despair of ever being able to overcome sin through sheer will power. We echo Paul's frustration when he said:

We all need to come to this point in our Christian experience. It might not seem like it, but it really is a good thing when we hit our bottom. It is only when we come to realize our utter hopelessness to overcome sin in our lives that we can become receptive to God's solution.

A Confusing Victory

Paul describes this solution in the next chapter, but before he gets there, he writes something that is, at the same time, both encouraging and depressing:

Paul points to where our victory over sin lies, and it certainly does not lie in our own personal efforts. My deliverer from the 'body of this death' is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His sovereign power that gives me victory.

However, it used to be when I read this chapter and came to this verse, something didn't sit right. Why would Paul give thanks to God while admitting he still served sin with his flesh? I used to reconcile this by thinking Paul was thanking God for the forgiveness of his sins that was made possible by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

But after reading and re-reading this section of Romans, the context forced me to conclude Paul was thanking God for practical victory in his struggle with sin. He was thanking God for sanctification, not salvation. ¹³

But it still didn't make sense to me. I identified with Paul's struggle. So how can it be a good thing that, while I serve God with my mind, I still serve sin with my flesh? I don't want to serve sin with my flesh! I want to serve righteousness with my flesh! What am I thanking God for here?

Then I saw it. Paul had already given us a little taste of the answer earlier in chapter 7:

You see, Paul was losing the sin battle because he was trying to fight sin the old way: by keeping the law. Law-keeping attempts to correct the outward actions, but it is powerless to correct the inner cause of sin. Therefore, God has provided a new way to live: through the promised Holy Spirit that Jesus sent down for us. As we move into the next chapter, Paul explains why this is such a good thing.

God's Solution

First, to those who keep losing the sin battle, Paul addresses the self-condemnation issue. Immediately (!) after admitting he himself served sin in his flesh, he says:

Even though Paul could not stop sinning, God did not condemn him, because he was in Christ.

You may condemn yourself over your constant failures to live up to God's standards, but if you are in Christ (…and only God can put you in Christ), Paul assures you that God does not condemn you for the evil you can't stop doing (Romans 7:19, 23). Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for your sin on the cross. It is because of the righteous blood He shed that God does the unthinkable: He justifies the ungodly! ¹⁶ So, if God doesn't condemn you for your sins, you shouldn't either.

We should always be thankful for being delivered from the condemnation of the law. But, as Paul said earlier, we are not to use our freedom from condemnation as a license to sin. Romans 6 is still God's intent for you and me. ¹⁷ (By the way, if living in sin doesn't bother you, you should seriously question your salvation! ¹⁸)

So, if God wants us to live righteously, but we can't stop sinning, how do we resolve our dilemma? Here's how:

True practical freedom from sin is not obtained by personal effort, but by walking in the Holy Spirit. Instead of focusing on your sin or on trying to keep the Law, you need to focus on Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit He has freely given you.

Continuing on in Romans chapter 8, Paul tells us how he personally found freedom from sin:

There are three kinds of laws mentioned in this passage. In reverse order, they are:

• The Law of Moses, in verses 3 and 4. This is the law that reveals God's standard of righteousness. The Law is righteous and good. It says you must not do this and you must not do that, but it doesn't give you any power to fulfill its demands. Our flesh is too weak, handicapped by our sinful nature, to keep all of its requirements. The Mosaic Law doesn't help us. All it does is condemn us:
• Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. ²⁰
• Next, there is the law of sin and death in verse 2. This law is the operating principle we find within ourselves when we try to keep the Mosaic Law. It is the 'other law' mentioned in Romans 7:23, the one that won't let us keep God's law, even though we want to. The Mosaic Law, while good in itself, empowers sin in our fallen nature, which results in death. ²¹ The Mosaic Law reveals this law of sin and death that is already in us, and therefore it condemns us.
• Finally, in verse 2 there is the law of the Spirit of life. Unlike the Mosaic Law, this law is the power of God actively working in those of us who are in Christ through His Holy Spirit. It completely overcomes the law of sin and death, and brings us into right practical relationship with God, fulfilling the requirements of the Law of Moses. ²² The important thing to note here is that the power of this law is experienced, not by those who try to keep the Mosaic Law, but by those who walk in the Spirit. As Paul says elsewhere:

A Different Hope

Walking in the Spirit is the key to gaining victory over sin. But you may say, "I already know that, and yet I still struggle with temptation! I still sin!"

Yes, you do! And so do I! But we've only looked at part of God's solution to our problem. Let's continue on.

If you're like many believers today, you probably think of the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work in you as somehow transforming your fleshly nature to make it more like Christ. The Holy Spirit is helping you to lie less, to overcome an addiction, to be less of a hypocrite, to be more loving, and so on. He pushes you to somehow do better. If you have been thinking this way, stop!

Listen: The Holy Spirit was not given to improve or correct the flesh. The fleshly nature will always be sinful, because the mind of your natural self is an incorrigible rebel against God, and it will always be your worst enemy as well.

The fleshly nature never improves. We have this idea that as Christians our flesh gradually becomes better, but it doesn't. It actually gets worse. The recovering alcoholic can identify with this. An alcoholic can have sobriety for 40 years, but all it takes is one drink to find himself exactly where he left off, showing there never was any real improvement to the addiction.

Before you can gain victory over sin, you must first accept the fact that your natural mind will always be in rebellion against God. Your flesh will never willingly submit to God's rule, and if you insist on forcing it to do so, you might as well get used to disappointment! ²⁵

This is why Paul admitted he served sin in his flesh at the end of chapter 7, and it's the reason why we also cannot conquer sin through any amount of self-effort. Trying to reform our minds and actions is just a waste of time. It's hopeless. The only appropriate action to take for the fleshly nature is to put it completely to death by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine you see a dandelion on your lawn. You pull the weed up, but a week later it's back. You pull it up again, but it still comes back. No matter how many times you pull it, that stubborn weed keeps coming back. The problem is you're only removing the top part of the plant. You're not getting at the root.

Sin is like the top part of that weed, and the fleshly nature is its root. While it's certainly better to pull the weed of sin up than to let it grow, unless the root is dealt with, sin will keep coming back. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit gradually kills the root of the fleshly nature. It is only as He does His work in us that our efforts in resisting temptation will meet with success.

We'll look at this in more detail later, but for now understand God does not expect you to live a righteous life through self-effort. He knows it is impossible for you, and therefore He is not going to condemn you for your failures (Romans 7:25–8:1). Just as your salvation has been accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ, so your sanctification is being accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit. Your sanctification is God's on-going work, and therefore the results are His responsibility. Don't beat yourself up over something that is not your responsibility! Your part is to simply walk by faith in submission to His Spirit. Cease from your own work and yield to His power and direction. Let Him do His work in you and leave the results with Him, …so He gets the glory. Yes, it takes time to learn this, but trust Him!

Now don't misunderstand me. Sanctification is not a passive "Let go, and let God" process on our part. I'm not against works—I'm just against those works of the flesh. We will look at what we are to do, but first we need to understand our absolute reliance on God's power in us to overcome the root cause of our sin.

Once you grasp the concept that your sanctification is just as much God's responsibility as your salvation, you will find release from self-condemnation. And this will enable you to look to Him to do His work in your life.

If you still struggle with a particular sin, don't worry about failure. Get your eyes off your sin and on to Jesus. Trust His Holy Spirit to work in you to change your heart and mind. When you sin, confess it to Jesus, thank Him for His blood which covers it, and immediately get back in step with the Spirit, submitting yourself to Him and depending on His power to overcome the flesh. Your focus should not be on sinning less but on walking in the Spirit more—even continually. As the latter happens, the former will happen as a result. ²⁸

For most of us, the first eight chapters of Romans picture the path of progress in our Christian walk. Chapters 6 through 8 can be summarized this way:

• A chapter 6 believer is someone who acknowledges we are not to sin, but hasn't been serious about putting it into practice, or honest with himself about his inability to do so.
• A chapter 7 believer is someone who has attempted to put chapter 6 into practice, and has come face to face with failure. He realizes his need for supernatural intervention.
• A chapter 8 believer is someone who relies on God's solution to the problem exposed in chapter 7. He seeks to walk in submission to the Holy Spirit—and experiences victory over sin when he does so! He realizes his sanctification is not just his goal, it is God's goal.

Which chapter are you?

Two Warnings

I hope what we've seen so far opens your eyes to the possibility of overcoming sin in your life. It has certainly done so for me. Before we move from doctrine to how it works out in real life, I need to warn you of two wrong turns that can sidetrack us right from the start.

First, if I present a laundry list of things to do, it would be easy and natural for you to try to do those things in your own strength. But that would be missing the whole point.

Simply put, walking in the flesh is doing anything apart from walking in submission to the Spirit. ³⁵ There are all kinds of good things you can do, but unless you do them under the leading and power of the Holy Spirit, they will eventually result in sin, and we don't want to go there.

This leads to the question: How can you know if you're walking in the flesh? I've sometimes heard it described by the word trying:

"I'm trying to control my temper."

"I'm trying not to think lustful thoughts."

"I'm trying to love my neighbor."

If your focus is on trying to obey, it's a good sign you're relying on your own strength rather than God's strength. The Spirit does not work through your trying to keep the law. ³⁶ You cannot work the change from the outside in—you might as well try filling the outside of a bottle. God must work the change from the inside out.

Elsewhere, Paul warned the Philippian believers about the Judaizers who wanted to bring elements of lawkeeping into the church. He said that is not the way we are to live:

In the original language, the word 'worship' here refers not to the worship of praise, but to how we live for God in our day-to-day lives. In my natural strength, doing the right thing is a chore. It's a battle I know I will lose. Galatians 5:17 says there's a war going on in me between my natural self and the Spirit. There's enmity between them, a battle for mastery. If I try to please God in my own strength, I'm taking the wrong side as much as if I seek to satisfy my fleshly desires. I'm grieving the Spirit and feeding the flesh. I will experience defeat as a result.

We usually understand these verses as a warning against carnality, but keep in mind Paul was speaking to outwardly moral believers who were trying to keep the law. It may come as a surprise to you, but just by trying to live a morally upright life, you could be living in the flesh! This is because legalism and the flesh are closely tied together. ³⁹

My earnest desire is that you abandon all hope in your own ability to live righteously, so that you put all your hope in God's power in you to live righteously. Otherwise, you will get sidetracked into fleshly "trying."

If you think you have a sin or weakness under control, or a particular temptation is behind you, humble yourself quickly before you fall! You will never have your weaknesses under control except through continual submission to the Holy Spirit. Don't hope to become stronger to withstand temptation. Instead, put all your hope in Christ and His Spirit to give you grace to stand day by day.

The other way you could get off track is by being spiritually lazy. I've emphasized the necessity of relying on the Holy Spirit to do His work in your life. That doesn't mean sitting back and doing your own thing while waiting for sanctification to miraculously happen. To gain victory over sin, you must replace walking in the flesh with walking, not merely resting, in the Spirit. It's impossible to replace walking in the flesh with nothing at all. ⁴⁰

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? To answer that question, all we have to do is look at the life of Jesus in the gospels.

When Jesus came to earth, He "emptied" Himself ⁴¹, laying aside His own power and will. As God in human flesh, Jesus was fully able to minister in His own strength. He could have done what He wanted without sinning. However, He denied Himself and submitted to the Holy Spirit's leading anyway. After His baptism, the Spirit came upon Him and led Him into the wilderness to be tempted. When Jesus returned, He did so in the power of the Spirit. He then preached and performed miracles by the same Spirit. ⁴² His life was a channel for the Spirit of God to work through.

We also need to walk the same way: to empty ourselves, pray in the Spirit, love in the Spirit, serve God and live to Him in the Spirit. ⁴³ This is not merely trying to imitate the life of Christ. It is the Spirit of Christ ⁴⁴ actually living through us as we rely on Him to direct, guide, and empower us. It is the "Not I, but Christ" life of Galatians 2:20–21. ⁴⁵

An integral part of walking in the Spirit is abiding in Christ. Jesus said we can do nothing unless we abide in Him. But when we abide in Him, the result is fruit for God. ⁴⁶

When I think about fruit, I picture an apple tree. An apple tree does not work or struggle to produce apples. As long as it remains connected to the root, the life-giving sap flows through it, and fruit develops naturally. When we remain connected to Christ, the 'sap' of the Holy Spirit flows through us, and over time we produce much fruit:

Not surprisingly, this is what characterized the life of Jesus on earth. Fruit is the evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work. You could see it in the church at Pentecost, and in the Philippian and Thessalonian churches. ⁴⁸ The Corinthian believers, however, while having a reputation for being Spirit-filled, were carnal. They lacked love for one another, and their church was cliquish and plagued with immorality. ⁴⁹ Clearly they were walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit.

First Steps

If you're like me, you probably find the biggest obstacle to walking in the Spirit is simply remembering to do so. With the world and life in general offering plenty of attention-grabbing distractions, how do we keep God at the forefront of our thoughts? I believe it begins with an urgent sense of need for Him.

When Jesus talked with the woman at the well, He spoke of a thirst only He could satisfy. The apostle John tells us that thirst was for the Holy Spirit. Just as water consumes our thoughts when we're in great thirst, the path to continually walking in the Spirit begins with a consuming sense of thirst for the Holy Spirit.

Most Christians would agree Jesus sent His Spirit because He knew we needed power to be witnesses for Him and to serve Him. But few recognize their absolute dependence upon the Spirit to overcome sin and become like Christ. Yet this is why Jesus gave us His Spirit: because He knows we can't do it on our own. To sense our spiritual thirst, we must recognize our need as well. A big part of this is becoming aware of the specific ways we are enslaved to our own way of thinking.

While the fleshly nature usually expresses itself in the words you say or the things you do, it's really about what's going on inside you. The flesh operates through attitudes such as pride, self-righteousness, lack of godly love, and the unwillingness to forgive others. It is motivated by things like money, pleasure, happiness, comfort, security, and even blessings—things that may be good in themselves, but are evil when they become our goals, and God merely a means to attain those goals.

Learning to recognize the flesh-walk is difficult because we've been immersed in it all our lives. It seems so natural that we're not even aware of it. You may think you're doing okay. You may even believe you are walking in the Spirit. But if the fruit listed in Galatians 5:22–23 isn't increasing in your life over time, you're not doing as well as you think. You probably have a hidden, fleshly stronghold somewhere. ⁵¹ Those strongholds in your life don't have to remain hidden, however. You can discover them by taking time to read and meditate on the living word of God.

When you read your Bible, make it a habit to first ask God to point out areas in your life where your flesh is still in control. Take a cue from King David when he prayed:

…and then listen to what the Spirit has to say.

As you spend time in God's word, you'll read about various people who did right or wrong. You'll come across commands and instructions on how you are to live. Examine yourself in light of what you read. Be honest. Maybe you have a pride, anger, lust or other problem that you're unaware of. Keep asking God to reveal those areas to you. Then, don't be surprised when the Holy Spirit starts convicting you of things in your life you've never had a problem with before. He will probably make you very uncomfortable at times. That's okay. Let Him bring those areas to light anyway so He can deal with them. You will only have victory when you stop holding on to what grieves the Holy Spirit. ⁵⁴

As the Spirit brings each of these flesh areas to light, confess them to Jesus right away and they will be forgiven. Confess not only sinful actions, but also the fleshly attitude, the root cause, that led to them. For example, confess the lack of love that led to your outburst of anger, or the selfishness that caused you to walk away from someone in need. Even if a fleshly attitude does not result in a sinful action, confess it anyway. As you keep confessing the works and attitudes of your flesh, not only will they be forgiven, God promises to cleanse you practically from all unrighteousness: He promises to sanctify you.

And when you confess these things to God, don't forget to ask His Holy Spirit for the boldness and power to put the works of your flesh completely to death (Romans 8:13). Confess not only your weakness but His strength, and by faith expect Him to answer your prayer.

As you learn to walk more in the Spirit, and by His power put the works of your flesh to death, you will find sin losing its grip on your life. Romans 6 will no longer appear to be full of impossibilities. You will find yourself able to 'reckon' yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. ⁵⁶ You will also be able to boldly 'present' yourself by faith to God each day for Him to work through you.

This 'presenting' of yourself is not about your ability to live in a righteous manner, but about your availability to God for Him to do His good work in and through you. It is saying, "God, I come before you as an empty vessel. Fill me with your righteousness for Your glory. Work through me today as You see fit." I recently began a habit of starting my day by presenting myself to God in this way. As a result, I've noticed God working in and through me during the day. I think you'll discover the same when you present yourself to Him each morning.

In case we didn't get it the first time, Paul repeats his instruction in Romans chapter 12:

The word 'transformed' refers to God's work in making us like Christ, not our work in reforming ourselves. ⁵⁹ All we have to do is offer ourselves to Him daily, and He in His mercy will do His sanctifying work in us. You don't have to understand how He works. All you need to do is trust Him to do His work.

The normal Christian life is one that relies on the grace of God in all areas, and I believe the chief manifestation of that grace for day-to-day living is the Holy Spirit. It matters not how weak you are—His grace is always sufficient for you. So strive to walk in the Spirit. Cling to Him as if your life depends on it, because as far as your sanctification is concerned, it does. ⁶⁰ While your salvation is assured in Christ, your life here on earth will only be fruitful as you walk in the Spirit.

First Steps Summary

1.  Build your thirst for the Holy Spirit by…

  a.  examining yourself in the light of scripture,

  b.  asking God to reveal your fleshly nature to you,

  c.  realizing your powerlessness to overcome the flesh, and

  d.  realizing the sufficiency of His Spirit to overcome the flesh.

2.  Confess to God your fleshly nature and its works (i.e. sins)…

  a.  immediately,

  b.  specifically, and

  c.  completely.

3.  Confess God's power and ask Him…

  a.  for power to put the fleshly nature to death, and

  b.  to make you like Christ.

4.  Trust God to answer this prayer by…

  a.  reckoning yourself dead to sin and alive to righteousness, and

  b.  presenting yourself to God daily.

Continuing On

We've seen what the Bible says about our fleshly nature, and about our need for the Holy Spirit to transform us on the inside so we can resist temptation. We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God always provides a way of escape from temptation. I firmly believe that way of escape comes through the power of the Holy Spirit, whether the temptation appears easy or difficult to resist.

Satan's goal in tempting you is to separate you from the life of the Holy Spirit. (Thank God, he can do nothing about separating you from Christ!) He does so by trying to get you to rely on your own strength and willpower. He will tell you, "You can handle this temptation on your own." Don't listen to him! Keep relying 100 percent on the Holy Spirit!

If you do fall and sin, Satan will tell you, "Now you did it! God won't have anything to do with you." Again, don't listen to him. Immediately confess your sin to God, thank Him for the blood of Jesus that covers it, and get back into step with the Holy Spirit. It's a lie of Satan that you have to wait a while for God's anger to cool down before He'll accept you again. Your standing before God is entirely on the merits of the righteous blood of Jesus Christ. Period.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is more than just a means to help you live right. The indwelling of the third Person of the Trinity means real fellowship with God is always available. ⁶¹ The Christian life is a walk with God through easy times and difficult times.

If you are in Christ, you already have the Holy Spirit. But don't be satisfied with just having the Spirit. The benefits of such a relationship are known through walking in Him. ⁶² Yes, it takes time to learn how to walk, but stick with it. Spend time in your Bible getting familiar with His voice. The more you rely on the Holy Spirit to make you like Christ, the more precious your walk with Him will be.

One more thing: If you have not been born again, then none of this information will do you any good, because you don't have the Holy Spirit. (The converse is also true: if you don't have the Holy Spirit, then you have not been born again.) When God saves someone, He gives him His Holy Spirit as an assured promise of salvation. ⁶³ If you don't have the promise (the guarantee), then you aren't saved:

So your first priority is getting right with God so that He can send you His Holy Spirit. Humbly surrender yourself before God, confessing your sin against Him, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to pay the penalty for your sins, and you will be saved. And you will receive the Holy Spirit. ⁶⁵