Fighting From Victory: The Believer’s Battle with Sin

Have you ever thought, "I’m saved, but I’m still struggling with temptation — am I really saved?" It can feel like the truth of Scripture is written clearly on paper but blurry in daily life. Many believers wrestle with this — the tension between the freedom Jesus purchased and the sin that still tempts.

Should the word sin and the believer even be in the same sentence? We’ve been taught that Jesus has freed us from sin, and that’s true — we are legally free in Christ, but we still find ourselves struggling with sin. The gap between what is legally ours in Christ and what we experience in our day-to-day lives is the difference between legal reality and vital reality – and grasping this difference changes everything

First, what is the legal reality of the believer and why is it important to know it? Legal Reality is our unchanging position in Christ. Who we are in Him and what His sacrifice has accorded us.

Reading through the epistles, we see a clear pattern of how Apostle Paul handled matters. Whether he was teaching, correcting, or encouraging believers, Paul always started by reminding them of who they were in Christ. Before addressing behaviour, he reestablished position — who they are because of what Jesus has done. Why? Because the believer lives from revelation. 

Let’s look at an example from scriptures

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

Paul starts by reminding them of their legal position in Christ, then in chapter 4, Paul shifts to giving instructions in the light of their new calling: 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Ephesians 4:1 NIV

You could identify five hundred strategies on how to break a habit, but none of them will matter if you don’t first have a foundational understanding of who you are in Christ. God has called us Holy and He calls us to live a Holy life – the great news is, He has already supplied everything we need in the knowledge of Him. 

See, God never gives instructions without also giving the power to obey. When the angel appeared to Mary and told her she would give birth to Jesus, no instructions were given for her to make it happen — because it wasn’t something she could do. It was a divine miracle, entirely God's work. That’s why no matter how much anyone fasts or prays, no one can “key into” the miracle of the virgin birth. It wasn’t about her effort — it was about God's sovereign act. However, whenever God gives an instruction — whether through Scripture, or spiritual leading — it’s a clear sign that it falls within the realm of your God-given responsibility and capacity.

Instructions are evidence that grace has made it possible.

 2 Peter 1:3 says,

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

Now that we understand that our legal reality should be foundational, it’s important to realize that we also carry a responsibility to partner with God in working this out. The Bible says in Philippians 2:13 NKJV

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

We have the responsibility to put in the work. We see this clearly in Colossians 3:3;55

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3 NKJV

The Bible here explains that we died, and our lives are now hidden with Christ but two verses after he says: 

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:5 NKJV

This goes to show that though our identity is settled; we have died with Christ - we are still called to actively put to death the desires of the flesh. It is not a contradiction; it's a call to live from who we are: because we have died, we can die to the flesh and its members.

Here are some practical steps to die to the flesh: 

1. Walk in the Spirit: Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” This simply means giving yourself to the things of God - prayer, fellowship, and the Word.  One of the most effective ways to break a habit is to replace it. Get busy walking in the Spirit, give yourself to meditating on who you are as a believer. Let the truth of your identity renew your thinking and reshape your habits.

2. Confess your new reality in Christ: Someone once said, “You don’t fight thoughts with thoughts — you fight thoughts with words.” Learn to speak out loud what God says about you. Be bold about your place in Christ and who He has made you. Speak the Word with confidence in the face of sin. 

3. Guard your heart: This requires honest self-evaluation. Are the people around you helping you grow, or are they normalizing habits you’re trying to break? Does your environment feed the very thing you’re trying to overcome? What kind of content are you consuming? Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Wisdom helps you protect what you expose yourself to, what you allow in would eventually flow out.

Never forget, as believers, we don’t fight FOR victory, we fight FROM victory because Jesus already conquered sin. The man is Christ is above the power of sin, our role is to walk in what He has accomplished, with wisdom and responsibility.

With Love,

Testimony.