Why Do I Keep Struggling with the Same Temptation?
1) Direct Answer
You keep meeting the same temptation because the old nature is still being fed, a door has been left open, and the battle is being fought too much in your own strength instead of walking in the Spirit. Victory comes by full surrender to Jesus Christ, the infilling of the Holy Ghost, and cutting off the provisions that keep the cycle alive.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says there’s a war inside: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh… the flesh lusteth against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-17).
- God promises a way out every time: “God… will with the temptation also make a way to escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- The door must be shut: “Make not provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14). “Neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27).
- Watch and pray or you’ll enter into it again (Matthew 26:41).
- Real power is by the Spirit: “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
- Bring it into the light: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9).
- Overcome by the Blood and the Word: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).
- Flee what inflames it: “Flee… youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22).
- Arm yourself with the Word: Jesus answered every temptation with “It is written” (Matthew 4:1-11; Ephesians 6:17; Psalm 119:11).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- You can’t starve and feed the same thing at once. If you feed the flesh, it rules; if you feed the inner man, he rules.
- Temptation returns where a door is still unlocked. Shut the door, and the thief loses access.
- Willpower alone grows weary; the Holy Ghost never does. Victory is not by grit but by surrender—Christ living in you.
Practical steps
- Repent specifically: Name the sin to God; renounce it. Ask for cleansing by the Blood (1 John 1:7-9).
- Shut the doors: remove triggers, access points, and companions that lead you there (Romans 13:14; Matthew 5:29-30).
- Submit and resist: First submit to God, then resist the devil; he will flee (James 4:7). Don’t argue with temptation—flee it (2 Timothy 2:22).
- Fill, don’t just empty: Seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost daily (Acts 2:38-39; Ephesians 5:18). Pray, worship, and keep the Word in your mouth.
- Use the Sword: Memorize two or three Scriptures that answer your specific battlefield; speak them when the thought first knocks (Matthew 4; Psalm 119:11).
- Stay in the light: Walk in fellowship; confess your faults to a faithful, praying believer (James 5:16). Isolation fuels bondage; light breaks it.
- Watch and pray: Set times for prayer and the Word; temptation thrives where watchfulness is absent (Matthew 26:41).
- If you stumble: Don’t settle. Run to the Blood at once, get up, and keep walking (Proverbs 24:16; 1 John 2:1).
Short reinforcement
Now notice, God has already provided the escape and the power. Yield to the Spirit, close the doors of the flesh, take the Word in your mouth, and walk on. The same Jesus who saved you can keep you.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
What was the Holy Ghost given for?
59-1217 §8
Now, you that's keeping these scriptures down, if you would turn with me to St. John again, the fourteenth chapter, we want to begin at the fourteenth chapter of St. John. And let's start about the fourteenth verse, St. John 14:14, and just read a portion of this Scripture. Now, in this you will find much of the context that I want to speak on tonight. And remember, you that have the "red letter" Bibles, it's in red, this is. It's the words that Jesus, Himself, spoke of. So therefore, we can rest assured that it wi...
Witnesses
53-0405E §75
...." I'd say, "That stuff makes me so sick!" She'd said, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good." So, maybe, there it is. Maybe the Gospel can it be applied the same way. If it don't stir you all up, it won't do you any good. Keep your eyes on Christ. Keep moving on. Don't care what the world says. Keep moving on. "They that are sons of God are led by the Spirit of God." Is that right? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, (or the things...
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me
61-0215 §30
Now Elisha knew that everything that he touched was blessed. But if he could get the woman to believe it, that was all... If he could get the woman to believe the same thing, a miracle would have happened just the same as ever, if the woman would have had faith in what Elisha told her to do. But the woman's faith wasn't in the staff. Now I kind of like the way she said it anyhow. She said, "As the Lord liveth and your soul never dies, I'm not going to leave you." I like that. Determined to hold on. That's it. If yo...
Church Ages, part 8: The Philadelphian Church Age
60-1210 §98
...gogue of Satan, ... [All right.] ...and they shall know... Come to your feet, and ... know that I ... loved you. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee in the hour of temptation, ... Watch now. To show this is not the Methodist age, I'm talking about, yet it's the lapover... Look. Are you ready to listen? Everybody? Listen close now: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee [that little remnant] from the hour of temptation, when... The church is going to c...
Things that are to be
65-1205 §36
...and breathe the air, and see the flowers and things, if that ... if this here is the expression, one that's dying is only expressing one that's eternal. When you see a tree struggling, pulling, trying to live, that means there's a tree somewhere that doesn't have to do that. When you see a man here, struggling to live, somebody in a hospital, or on a sick bed, or in a accident, struggling and the death rattle's in their throat, and pulling and crying and screaming for life, what does that mean? There's a place some...