As a Christian, you are a follower of Jesus Christ. You have made Him your Lord and you seek to do His will. But you find there are times when you do contrary to His will, and other times when you don’t do the good that you know you should. Well, don’t feel alone. Every one of us experiences those problems. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote of himself in Romans 7:19-23 “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” First of all, this was written by one who wills to do good. If that is not you, then you have an even bigger problem. But I will assume that you have a desire to do good. The Apostle Paul is describing the war of the flesh against the spirit. Your spirit wants to do good, but your flesh does not always accomplish that good and you become a captive to sin. Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
As a Christian, you have died to sin. Romans 6:2b, 6 “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” You can no longer be a slave to sin. But at times, in the war of the flesh against the spirit, the flesh wins a battle – sin raises its ugly head within you. You must continue the war and make sure sin does not become your master again.
In this war that you fight, does it seem that the flesh is winning? Romans 7:24-25 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” It is only through Jesus Christ that you can be delivered from death.
If you find that as a Christian you have sinned, what do you do? 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you humble yourself and admit (confess) to God your sin, He has promised to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
We all have our war of the flesh against the spirit. Through Jesus Christ you must fight the war. When the flesh wins a victory, you must confess the sin and renew the fight.