Hi Roy,
Here are a few emails that might help.
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 untill 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 eys 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 abhore 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,1681.0.html -------
Yes, "been there; done that." You can't of yourself get yourself out of your sin and misery. You desire it, but you will not find the strenght in yourself to do it. God brings all of His chosen elect to the place in their life where they hate life; they hate themselves; and often hate God. When you get that low and are so very thoroughly convinced that you can and will never overcome you most horrible sins, that is when God will come to your rescue. You must be convinced that if you are saved from yourself and your sins, that it was God that did it and not you. I am convinced of that in my life. If God is choosing you, then it will also happen in your life. Just keep praying and obeying until God gives you the victory over yourself and your sin. I will pray for you.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,1721.0.html -------
"trusting God will all your might and questioning your faith at the same time" is what we call a "contradiction." You obviously do NOT trust in God with all your might. YOU HAVE NO MIGHT! And neither do I or anyone else. This is a great part of your problem. You are looking to yourself for success and looking to yourself for failure. Get your eyes OFF OF YOURSELF.
"...how can 'I' find peace and confidence in 'MYSELF?'" Answer: YOU CAN'T. You will never ever find peace and confidence until it comes FROM God and is IN GOD. "For we and the circumcision [those who have had the flesh, carnal mind, CUT from us--the mind that believes in self-confidence and self-improvement] which worship God in the SPIRIT, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH [OUR flesh--our carnal mind]" (Phil. 3:3).
"been there done that." You will NOT get yourself out and neither did I get myself out--But GOD DID. God is in control of your life. You cannot force God's hand. God moves according to His plan and purpose, not ours. The fact that you are asking me these questions could be a sign that God is beginning to deal with you, but He will show you what you must do, and you will then do it. I am just a teacher and a "preacher of foolishness" (I Cor. 1:21-24). But God USES the preaching of foolishness [That is: God uses the poor grammar and ackward words and phrases and mis-spelled that I use to teach and write with TO CHANGE THE SPIRITUAL LIVES of those whom God is calling out of this world. God can accomplish one of His greatest miracles in the universe, that of spiritaully converting and regenerating a carnal mind into a spiritual mind, through what, on the surface, may seem to many to be 'foolishness'] of preaching to SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE."
Don't become discouraged. You are just as God desires you to be AT THIS TIME. I know how discouraging it can be to not be able to have "dominion" over your sins. But in God's time, you will have the victory, and it will come from God, not yourself.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4098.0.html --------
It is GOOD that we should feel embarrassed over our sins. My past sins are an embarrassment to me when I from time to time think about them. If they were NOT an embarrassment to me, I might still be committing these same stupid and lustful acts. Embarrassment and guilt are good for us. These feelings first make us realize that these things are lustful, and wrong, and stupid. But we will not have victory over them unless and until God reveals to us their real purpose and need to get rid of them.
Where did the mechanism by which Eve: "saw that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was PLEASANT TO THE EYES, and a tree to be desired to MAKE ONE WISE..." come from in the first place? Did SHE create these desires in her heart and mind and soul? Get real--SHE HAD NOT A CLUE! God created humanity in the spiritually weakened state in which we find ourselves, but there is a great and grand reason and purpose for it.
There is a "SPIRITUAL GREATNESS" that is achieved by the conquering of illegal pulls [spiritually 'illegal'] of the flesh and the stupid sensual lust for self-gratification. These things are not good, in and by themselves, as modern psychologists might try to convince us, but they do serve a good purpose when they embarrass us and make us feel guilty. Embarrassment and guilt are the precursors to REPENTANCE.
We must come to the place in our lives where we not only desire to obey the laws of the land, the powers ordained by God to somewhat limit the evils of society, but to also obey the Laws of GOD. We want and desire to do what God says, not because we have figured out all the logical logistics of His commandments, but because we desire to OBEY HIM REGARDLESS of how well we understand all the reasons why God tells us to do and not do certain things.
Christians will argue; "Well I don't see the harm in teaching my little ones about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny." Of course they don't. To their carnal minds the commandment of God to "Learn NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN" has little or no effect on their attempt to worship God as they please.
When you see the "SIN in sin" and start to hate sin as God hates sin, then and only then will you make progress in eliminating these things in your life. Of course, you know, when I say such things it means that God is bringing this about in your thinking and God is enabling you to have to the power to actually conquer these pulls of the flesh. All we who have had a measure of success in victory over sin to the point that sin "no longer has DOMINION over us" (Rom. 6:8-19), desired to be free from sin LONG BEFORE IT EVER ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT! I believe that most of my readers will say "A-men" to that!
Be patient and do not stop crying out to God for deliverance, for in time God will grant you the fruit of righteousness.
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.
God be with you,
Ray