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.
Looking at the unseen
59-0410 §35
...hat sound barrier. But when once it gets beyond the sound barrier, then its speed's unlimited. It can just fly free. And the church and you sitting here tonight, oh, you're struggling and struggling, and God's a-pulling to you and showing you things. If you can ever get a-past that sin barrier of unbelief, then unlimited revival will break out to the United States and everywhere, if you can go beyond that sound barrier, that sin barrier of unbelief. "Oh, is it true? Does it mean me? Could I be healed? Could I be sa...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-85
He goes on to say to them, "Because you have taken my Word and lived it and thereby become patient, I will keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Now here again we see the overlapping of the two ages; for this promise has to do with the end of the Gentile period which culminates in the Great Tribulation.
Why?
59-0813 §24
...t's what's breaking up the nation today, breaking up the whole world, is sin. And there's plenty of cure for it. But the people won't take it. They don't want nothing to do with it. Just like the man sitting on the doctor's steps. Here comes a man out had the same disease and he's well. Another one comes out and said, "That's fanaticism. I ain't going in there." He will die there, because he rejects to take the medicine. And so is it. A man will die and sink into dark eternity without knowing God if he refuses the...
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §42
...you think you're not a Christian, just take the versa, say, "I am a Christian." As long as your experience matches in God's Word say, "I'm a Christian." Anything else, the same way. QUESTION: When you answer this, please pray for me to overcome this, as I am not by myself. God grant your overcoming, ever who you are. May your thoughts just go right back the other side and say, "I am a Christian; I am a believer. Satan, you have no hold on me." Frankly, I'm standing right here now saying the same thing, keep from f...
Teaching on Moses
56-0513 §81
Now, you got a soul. And, papa and mama, you the same. But if you keep it, you're going to lose it. That's right, the witches of hell will take it. They're all after it! But if you give it back to the One who gave it to you, you'll keep it to everlasting life. Hallelujah! Amen! Excuse me, children, I'm just old-fashioned enough to shout. If you keep it... Let's say it, all together. [Brother Branham and congregation say together, "If you keep it, you'll lose it. If you give it back to the One who gave it to you, yo...