Why Do I Still Struggle After Being Born Again?
1) Direct Answer
You still struggle because the new life is in you, but your body and human spirit have not been redeemed yet. The Holy Spirit in your inner man wars against the flesh. That conflict is a sign of life, not a sign that you were not born again. God allows the fight to train you, prove you, and make you an overcomer.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). That’s the battle you feel.
- Paul said he delighted in God’s law “after the inward man,” yet felt another law in his members (Romans 7:22-25). Then he declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1-2).
- We “groan within ourselves, waiting for…the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). The soul is reborn now; the body’s redemption is future.
- Those sealed “with that Holy Spirit of promise” are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). God keeps what He births.
- “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him” (1 John 3:9). The Seed in the soul cannot deny the Word. When a believer stumbles, he is grieved and confesses (1 John 1:9), and has “an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
- God chastens sons (Hebrews 12:6-8). Correction is proof of sonship, not rejection.
- “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). “God…will…make a way to escape” for every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- Put on the whole armor of God and use the Sword of the Spirit, the Word (Ephesians 6:10-18).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- New birth changes your nature. You love the Word and hate sin. The struggle remains because you’re still in the same body with old habits pressing from the outside. The Seed inside cannot disbelieve the Word, but the flesh must be crucified daily. Feed the inner man with the Word and prayer, and starve the flesh by refusing its avenues (eyes, ears, thoughts, companions, places).
- Condemnation is the enemy’s voice; conviction is the Spirit drawing you to confess and walk on. If you can sin without grief, that’s danger; but if it pains you and drives you to Christ, that’s life.
4) Short Reinforcing Counsel
- Stay in the Word daily; speak it back to temptation.
- Pray and watch; avoid the doorways of the old life.
- Confess quickly; don’t hide. The Blood answers the accuser.
- Fellowship with the faithful; put on the armor.
- Remember: the battle means you’re alive. God started the work, and He will finish it.
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.
Five definite identifications of the true Church
60-0911E §80
"Less he be joined into it"? You can't be joined into it. You got to be born into it. Not "come and join"; "come and born." That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, You must be born again. The wind blow where it listeth, ... thou cannot tell ... the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it come, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. See, you don't join it. It's a mysterious thing. You are born into the myst...
You must be born again
61-1231M §101
...iserable wretch! All the holy water in the world couldn't clean you. But, brother, when you got something inside of you, it just washes it away all the time. You just stand still and it washes.
You must be born again
61-1231M §111
...th. That's the reason I make a challenge. Any man come and show me where the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is wrong. Show me this birth that you got to die and if you still got the world in you, you're still of the world. Show me these things. Don't need to worry about it---take it to the testing machine. Here's the testing machine, see. That's right. So they said, "You're going anyhow." And a bunch of the brothers picked him up, and the robe vanished, see. Wouldn't Pentecostal people eat that up today? Oh, m...
Adoption, part 3: Position in Christ
60-0522M §20
...nd every time you do anything wrong you are going to get paid for it. Yes, sir, you'll reap what you sow! But that has not one thing to do with your salvation. When you are born of the Spirit of God, you've got eternal life and can no more die than God can die. You're a part of God, you're a son of God. I was born a Branham. You might make me some other name. Some other name won't make me one less---I'm still Branham. I was born Branham, always will be Branham. I may be so disfigured some day, drawed with arthritis...
The faith that was once delivered to the saints
53-1129A §27
Sincerity has nothing to do with it. There's just one law God requires that you must be born-again. That's right. If you're not born-again, then you're just not there. That's all. I had to be born in order to be a human no matter what it was I had to be born. There's no way of making me up mechanically. I had to be born in order to be a human. I had to be borned in order to be a Christian. That's just all. It's a birth. Actually a birth. A man is regenerated. A new soul comes in. Now, let's go back. If you're going...