Here are a few emails on this subject.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,7162.0.html -------
As for overcoming sin, this is something I am asked nearly daily. We all want to be sin free. This is a life long endeavor. Our first giant victory is when sin no longer "REIGNS over us." But from there, sins continually crop us (often unseen and un-noticed). God gives His Holy Spirit to only those who obey Him, and no one can obey Him until HE grants one repentance. And then we still continue to suffer in our struggle against sin. God intends for us to fight. This life is spiritual warfare. The battle is never over. You need to cry out to God for the desire, then patience to suffer, and finally the power to overcome it. There is no magic formula. There is no magic prayer. There is no sowing a seed or buying your way out of carnality. We must struggle and fight and overcome and endure until the end.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2888.0.html -----
You are right, I cannot help you overcome your carnal sins. That is something that
we all have to do between ourselves and God. God is dealing with you and will
continue to deal with you. I cannot change God's timing for what He has in store
for your life. Those of us who are maybe a little more mature, have all gone
through what you are going through. That's why the Bible calls us BEASTS. We
often think and act and desire as do BEASTS. You will not quit sinning until
God deems it time for you to quit, but in the mean time, you will come to hate
your sins, and still will not be able to overcome them. You will cry out to the only
One Who can help you. We all must make our "walk through the valley of the
shadow of death." It is not a pleasant journey, but to come through it and have
a clean and clear conscious for the first time in your life, is itself quite rewarding.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4069.0.html ------
With all due respect, it is not because of a lack of knowledge that your are not having victory over your sins. There comes a time to DO what you already know. However, I will come to your defense by stating that you will not become victorious over most of your sins unless and until God determines that it is now time. I can only speak with authority when it comes to my own life. I had veasures of success in overcoming some things virtually the moment I learned the truth concerning them. For example, I quite using the Name of Jesus and God in profanity the week I came to realize how bad it was, and that was forty-five years ago, and I have never slipped up on it even once since then.
But the "lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life," are the biggies that God will allow to drag on in one's life until they really get sick of these sins. Some people never get sick of these sins--they LIKE them. But the "Goodness of God" (Rom. 2:4) can make you repent and abhor these things. We never conquer every sin as long as we are in the flesh, but we can come to the place that "sin no longer REIGNS over us." I have no desire to sin. I do not think about sinning. There is nothing in the realm of sin that has any value to me. I'll let Jesus be my Judge as to how far I have come in overcoming sin. You have to cry out to God to rescue from sin. You cannot and you will not do it on your own power.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2465.0.html ------
Yours is a common frustration. Many write me with similar struggles
with the flesh after coming into a knowledge of the Truth. I did the
same. I left my First Love and went back into the world, all the while
knowing that I couldn't conquer my flesh. I was so happy for what I
'perceived to be "greasy grace." Thank God for grace, because I knew
I wasn't going to be saved without it.
I still believe that that part of it is true (about saved by grace only), but
I also know that it is possible when God gets ready, to conquer your
major sins so that sin no longer "reigns over you." You will not be totally
perfect and mature, but you will not be giving into every pull of the flesh,
for sexual gratification, lust for money, power, good looks, eternal youth,
perfect health, interesting job, travel and excitement, etc., etc., etc. You
will learn to enjoy the simple pleasure of life like, breathing, sleeping,
walking, talking to your wife, eating a pizza, and going to bed early on a
Saturday night.
God will make you really WANT to stop sinning, long before you will
ACTUALLY stop sinning. It's part of the struggle; part of the good
fight of faith; part of overcoming the flesh. Don't become discouraged, as
God WILL SEE YOUR THROUGH!
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,1026.0.html ------
There is no magic bullet that will save you today from all your sins and problems. As you have stated YOU have tried and tried and failed time and again. ONLY GOD can save you from all of your sins. I can teach you the truths of the Scriptures, but overcoming the sins of the flesh is something that only God can do for you. I know the feeling. I have been there; done that. But God is faithful, and if you continue to hate your flesh and your sins and cry out to God, He will hear you. So be encouraged. Many have gone before you and have obtained the victory over sin. We are never totally free from all sin, but we do reach the place where sin no longer has dominion over us, and that is a great feeling. Don't do ANYTHING that gives you a guilty conscience. Don't GO anywhere, don't DO anything, don't SAY anything for which you feel guilty or wouldn't want your wife, children and par ents to see you doing. People condemn me and say all kinds of hateful lies about me on a daily basis. But my conscience is CLEAR before God, and so I don't have to answer to all my hate-filled detractors. Take God with you wherever you go and your whole life will change.
http://bible-truths.com/email16.htm#finished -----------------------
God has given ALL OF US, weaknesses. Some have financial problems, others marital, others health, others bad tempers, others fear and uncertainty, others are mentally and emotionally unstable, etc., etc., etc. The thing to remember is, "GOD AIN'T FINISHED WITH YOU YET"!!
Don't feel that just because you have certain problems and weaknesses that you will never ever overcome them. GOD IS ABLE! These weaknesses humble us and drive us to our knees and herefore, they do a good work in us.
I have as many genetic and emotional weaknesses as anyone, but I don't let them get me down. I press on with the assurance that God will not let me down. And as we mature, we find that we are stronger in faith, and mature even more quickly. I do not have near the sins today that I had just a half dozen years ago. God has conquered things in me that I was never able to conquer, try as hard as I may.
Peter denied Jesus three times in one evening. But in later years, Peter was a bold a lion! Be of good cheer, as Jesus said, He overcame THE WORLD, and it is this same Jesus that is now living IN US!
God be with you,
Ray