One simple shift will help you overcome sin.

We all struggle with one sin or another.  We tell ourselves to change, then return and do it again.

It’s “the sin that clings so closely” (Heb. 12: 1).

You know what sin you struggle with: profanity, lust, exaggeration, deception, anger, impatience, jealousy, and the list goes on.

In Galatians 5: 19-21, Paul provides a “laundry list” of theChristians' struggles. He calls these the “works of the flesh.”

HERE ARE SOME SIMPLE “SHIFTS” THAT WILL HELP YOU TO FINALLY MAKE PROGRESS IN CONQUERING THAT REPEATING SIN:

 1.Ask God to give you LOVE where sin is hiding.

Look at any sin in the list above, and you will notice one thing:  the total absence of love.

The “flesh” does not love.  It hates, it envies, it deceives, it steals, it is impatient, and on and on it goes.

Decide to love.  Substitute “love” for that sin.  If you love a person, you won’t lie to them, and so on down the list.

2. Use your SECRET WEAPON:  the Holy Spirit.

“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5: 16).

You can “displace” sin in your heart by “replacing” it with the Holy Spirit.

Ask Him to fill you so full that sin has no room to stay!

Focus more on being filled with the Spirit than having more self-discipline to stop sinning.

3. Pray every day for the FRUIT of the Spirit.

Paul counters the “sins of the flesh” with a list of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 22-23).

Every day, I pray for this list of Christ's nine “fruits” to live large in my life:  “love, joy, peace, patience,” etc. 

You will be amazed at how praying for patience helps you through heavy traffic that day or how praying for gentleness enables you to lower your voice that day.

4. Remember that your “flesh” is CRUCIFIED with Christ.

A dead person doesn’t struggle with temptation.  It does not affect them.

Declare to sin that you have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5: 24)

You can’t make a corpse mad!  You can’t make it jealous either. 

Walk in the resurrection life, and your old nature will not be able to control you like a yo-yo on a string.

5.  Stay HUMBLE.

Just about the time you think you have conquered that sin, it comes at you sideways from a different direction.  Down you go.

Stay humble enough to realize that you are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to stay free from sin.

Never get cocky that you are now living above all sin.  You are human. Stay low, teachable, and humble.  Be dependent on the Spirit.  Walk with Him and admit to Him when you fail.  He is always glad to forgive and lift you when you fall.

YOU CAN CONQUER ANY SIN.  Walk in love, lean on the Spirit, pray for the fruit of the Spirit, stay “crucified,” and stay humble.

We are all in this together!