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.
You must be born again
61-1231M §51
...ow, the approach to this birth, there is an approach to it. And to approach this birth, you have to go through a process. Just like anything that lives, anything that lives again has got to die first. And you cannot keep your same spirit, you cannot keep your same habits, you cannot keep your same thoughts. You've got to die. You've got to die like He died! You've got to die on His altar, like Abel did with his lamb. You got to die with your Lamb. You got to die. Die to your own thinking, to be born to His thinking...
You must be born again
61-1231M §127
...and drawed-out. But, Father, I believe that it's ordained of You, that it should be this way, that we might understand what birth and resurrection mean, what it means to be born again. We have to, first things first, we have to die in order to be born again. You never change your laws. The law of nature still provides. The law of nature is that any seed must first die in order to be born again. And we realize that we too must die in order to be born again. And so many, Lord, today (I pray You forgive us), so many h...
Why I'm against organized religion
62-1111E §74
To be born again means be "birthed from above." Again means "from above." I guess you know that, see. To be born again means to be "birthed from above." Now, you'll see, you can study it if you want to, in the lexicon. See, means "a birth that's come from above." Because, you've been born here, now to be born again you have to be born from up here, to be born again. Then that kingdom is so much higher than this kingdom, so much greater than this kingdom, till this kingdom is foolish to that, and that's foolish to t...
You must be born again
61-1231M §34
And no matter how much that we try to think we are right in saying a creed or joining a church, you're still what you were until you're actually born again of the Spirit of God. It doesn't change you. Your creed, joining church, or changing your ideas, or your good intentions, although as good as it might seem, it's still not right. There's something's got to happen. The new birth is an experience, something that takes place. So it is not that that brings the new birth. Now, the different churches, they'd say, "Wel...
Why I'm against organized religion
62-1111E §73
All right, to be born of the Spirit. Now, to be born of the flesh, and have wisdom of the world, the wisdom will obey its fleshly teacher. To be born of the Spirit is to believe and obey the teaching of the Bible, by the Holy Ghost. And a man that's born of the Spirit will obey God's Word regardless of what any tradition tells him. It's just it. You are reborn, that's the reason you see. To belong to an organization, put all your hopes in that... Now, I don't say people in organization is not born again. Now, I'll...