THE HABITUAL SECRET SIN
Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you are unable to sin. Though we have been called to be as holy and as perfect as GOD is, we are made of flesh and our hearts are continually being regenerated through the good work that GOD started in us, until the Day of JESUS CHRIST. So we will fall, but the difference between us and the unbeliever is that we will rise again. We will weep over the sin, while the unbeliever doesn’t care for what they have done. We will be remorseful while the unbeliever rejoices over and justifies what they did.
See the example of David. Though a man that was known to be after GOD’s own heart, he sinned and fell time and time again. But David was quick to repent and get back into the ways of GOD.
For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.
Proverbs 24:16 NKJV
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love GOD’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank GOD! The answer is in JESUS CHRIST our LORD. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey GOD’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
Romans 7:21-25 NLT
Create in me a clean heart, O GOD, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your HOLY SPIRIT from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous SPIRIT.
Psalms 51:10-12 NKJV
Sometimes we may get comfortable with the sin that keeps making us fall, either because we feel like we cannot conquer it, or because it has become a part of our daily lives and it looks normal. Some of it is so personal to us that only we know what we are fighting with.
However, secret sin destroys our spirit as much as public sin will. Secret sin will destroy our relationships, fellowships and ministries as much as public sin will.The level of sin is not in how much it is exposed to others or not. For as long as it grieves The HOLY SPIRIT, it destroys our spirits and strengthens the flesh. Remove every ungodly thing, even that which is a secret to us. May we have nothing to do with it, for it will corrupt us and be the reason why GOD will discipline us for rebellion. However small and harmless it looks, it will grow and devour us… Get rid of any sin, cut it off! Psalms 32 clearly shows us what it is to live with an unconfessed sin and what happens after we confess it. Take some time to read the whole chapter, but see verse 5 of the same chapter…
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalms 32:5 NKJV
Indeed, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.
We should not use our flesh as an excuse to sin, but instead, ask the HOLY SPIRIT to help us stay pure. We should not abuse the grace of GOD and go right ahead and do whatever we want to because, “GOD will forgive us anyway.” Instead, may we love GOD deeply in a way that we do not want to grieve or quench His SPIRIT. Habitual sin can get us to the point where, instead of seeking ways to get rid of it, we seek ways to defend it. May GOD help us to abhor sin and that we may never, for a single second excuse it, but instead, humble ourselves and run to Him for help.
And do not grieve the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
Ephesians 4:30-31 NKJV
Do not quench the SPIRIT.
Ist Thessalonians 5:19 NKJV
GOD wills to dwell among us and He cannot if we are comfortable in sin. With the Israelites, He gave them the law to keep themselves pure… In this day, He has given us JESUS CHRIST to keep us in righteousness. He always provides, and still does provide a way out of temptation and out of sin.
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but GOD is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Ist Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
Let me give us a few things that we can do to help with that recurring sin, that we have probably fought with for a short while or for so long, but first, remember…
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of GOD, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
Let us never think that our works will save us, but only CHRIST will. However, we will not just sit around, hope, pray and weep for an outcome as we do nothing. Salvation produces good works and those works will involve us being active in working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one GOD. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed GOD, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of GOD. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
James 2:17-26 NKJV
I write them in no particular order, not as though a step-by-step guide, but all of them, in any order, will apply. Though the first one will always surmount them all.
Seek GOD first
Read and meditate on the Word of GOD. Pray and pray ceaselessly. Commit your ways to GOD. Let the temptation find us walking with GOD, in the same way temptation came to JESUS while He was spending time with GOD and He used Scripture to conquer. Satan’s efforts to make us fall for his temptations are thwarted when he comes in touch with the truth of GOD’s Word; when it is unadulterated and used for GOD’s glory. The Bible tells us that when we submit to GOD and resist the devil, he flees.
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from HIM until an opportune time.
Luke 4:13 NKJV
Therefore submit to GOD. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to GOD and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:7-8 NKJV
“All these other things” that come after seeking first GOD’s Kingdom and His righteousness will well include standing firm against temptation and sin. No one in the Bible was ever able to stand firm before seeking GOD. Their story of victory always started with seeking GOD. Them that failed to conquer temptation always had abandoned GOD, even though for just a minute moment.
Therefore take up the whole armor of GOD, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:13 NKJV
Be deeply sorrowful and genuinely repentant of the sin
Sin is serious. It cost JESUS so much for our liberty, never take it lightly. Confess and repent the sin to GOD as soon as you realize what you have done. Let us not try to justify the sin, look for an “easy” way to deal with the guilt in our hearts, avoid talking to GOD about it or try to run away from the responsibility all together. Also, never twist Scripture to favour the reason to fall or try to prove yourself right. You will never be justified by an “out of context Scripture.” May we accept our part and commit to GOD. As many times as the sin, as many times as we repent. Do not get entitled. Sin is sin, and GOD is not pleased.
Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of GOD. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of GOD.
2 Corinthians 4:2 NIV
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of GOD are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— These, O GOD, You will not despise.
Psalms 51:16-17 NKJV
The guilt of sin…
…should not keep us from reading the Bible and from praying, in fact, the more we need to read the Word of GOD and pray. Sin for sure results to slavery and guilt, but GOD is willing to forgive us, to cleanse us and to set us free, if we repent and return to Him. The enemy hates it when we are reconciled to GOD, when we are enjoying a rich relationship with Him. The enemy will lie to us and make us feel like what we did was too big to be forgiven or we have been stuck in the cycle too long to get out of it. May we not believe him.
For if our heart condemns us, GOD is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward GOD. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Ist John 3:20-22 NKJV
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
Ist John 4:18 NKJV
Always remember that you are not your own
You were bought at a price and your body is the Temple of the HOLY SPIRIT. If you know you will be hosting at your home and it means a lot for the guests to be comfortable in your house, you go out of your way to make your house clean and to make the best meal. For a Christian, it should mean everything to us that The HOLY SPIRIT finds a clean Temple in each one of us.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the Temple of the HOLY SPIRIT who is in you, whom you have from GOD, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify GOD in your body and in your spirit, which are GOD’s.
Ist Corinthians 6:18-20 NKJV
…that there may be no wickedness among you.
Leviticus 20:14 NKJV
The fights starts in the mind
There is always a time temptation starts sprouting to the time we actualize it. We have time in between to arrest it. But even better, to keep ourselves so busy in GOD that our minds do not have the time, nor the chance to wander into the forbidden areas. Don’t wait for the temptation to come to start praying. Pray at all times and with all kinds of prayer. The conquering does not start when the enemy is at the door, it starts on the training ground, when we make our thoughts obedient to CHRIST. For someone like Daniel, leading with Godly integrity in a heathen government did not start when he was appointed governor. It started from the days of being a captive in his youth, when he refused to defile himself with the food, delicacies and wine from the king’s table. He had a custom he had created of spending time with GOD.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his GOD, as was his custom since early days.
Daniel 6:10 NKJV
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in GOD for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of GOD, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of CHRIST, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
2nd Corinthians 10:3-6
Do not feed the flesh with anything that will keep you out of the ways of GOD
Deal with the sin radically. Deny and starve the flesh of anything that will feed it to sin. Wandering to just one sin, and doing nothing about it, leads us to another sin and most definitely to the habitual sin that we struggle with. When the flesh is strong, the spirit is weak, but when the flesh is famished, the spirit flourishes. GOD, His Word and praying to Him make the spirit strong. Let us keep ourselves away from any distraction that will take the place of GOD, His Word and prayer in our lives. If it makes us forget GOD’s Word, however great it makes us feel, it is not worth it! If it takes away the chance to continuously meditate on the Word of GOD, however warm and comforted it makes us feel, it is not worth our thoughts either.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the SPIRIT, the things of the SPIRIT. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against GOD; for it is not subject to the law of GOD, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please GOD. But you are not in the flesh but in the SPIRIT, if indeed the SPIRIT of GOD dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the SPIRIT of CHRIST, he is not His. And if CHRIST is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the SPIRIT is life because of righteousness. But if the SPIRIT of Him who raised JESUS from the dead dwells in you, He who raised CHRIST from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His SPIRIT who dwells in you.
Romans 8:5-11 NKJV
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of GOD with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
Mark 9:43-48 NKJV
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Romans 7:14-20 NKJV
Subscribe to content that will lead you back to the study of the Bible
The media can be such a distraction from working on our part in our walk with GOD. The idle scrolling we do on social media, the binge watching of movies and series, the Music we listen to, the time we spend on phone with people… As much as the content of the same might not be ungodly, anything we do over and above the time we spend with GOD is not good for us. Anything that comes before GOD, carved or not, becomes an idol. We also need to be careful of what we subscribe to. The media has such horrible demonic content set before us, but in the same media, we have people being powerfully used of GOD. If we could curate and tune our media to the latter, we have a better chance at fighting the habitual sin that is keeping us down. Christians have shared their struggles on these platforms and it will be great to learn from them. Let our idle scrolling be interrupted in the first minute by a spirit stimulating video that will lead us to finding out more in the Word of GOD.
How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your Commandments! Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalms 119:9-11 NKJV
Surround yourself with Godly people
We confess our sin to them and let them hold us accountable and help us. Bring it out to the open, the devil wins in the dark. Sin festers in darkness but diminishes in the light. Perhaps there may be one that is a victor of what we struggle with and they understand our position and can well walk with us. A Godly Community will speak life into our situations and remind us of the truth in GOD’s Word concerning our circumstance. Attach yourself to a fellowship that will zealously study and share the Word of GOD.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16 NKJV
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV
Every win against the temptation is a good place to celebrate…
…but not a place to earn us bragging rights. We only conquer through CHRIST. Fully understand that you need JESUS to conquer sin and temptation and not your own strength. With JESUS in us and by our side, we win. So celebrate, instead of anticipating whether or not you will walk right after overcoming.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
I Corinthians 10:12 NKJV
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:37 NKJV
I thank GOD—through JESUS CHRIST our LORD! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of GOD, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:25 NKJV
Do not give up when you fall, again
Giving up the fight means the habitual sin will become a part of our lives and eventually seem like an “okay” thing to do, and that is against the Christian code of living in CHRIST. Instead of being weak in our spirits when we fall, let us surrender ourselves completely to CHRIST, He is not yet done sanctifying us, it is a continuous work. We cannot do this by our own strength. Let us not own the sin, it is not a treasure to keep. Give it up to CHRIST, He knows what to do with it and how to help us. We will rise if we don’t give up.
For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.
Proverbs 24:16 NKJV
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23 NKJV
…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of JESUS CHRIST;
Philippians 1:6 NKJV
Tackling sin, and especially those habitual secret ones, is not easy. It will take a lot of willingness, spending time with GOD and walking with the HOLY SPIRIT to let go of especially those “convenient sweet” ones. But it is never a lost battle when we go at it with JESUS CHRIST, who lives in us, it is no longer we who live. He lived above every temptation and died for all of those sins that we struggle with and so they have no power over us. He that lives in us is greater than he who lives in the World. We are already victorious.
This, too, could motivate us…
We are all ministers of the Gospel of CHRIST for a long as we are His followers. That being the case, holiness is something we shall preach and wickedness is something we shall speak against. It will be hard to ask people to live holy lives as we do the exact opposite. It starts with us. A confidence comes in our ministering, and our lives in general, when we know we have nothing to hide. We will fall for sure, but we need to get up as quickly as David did. The governors and satraps found nothing to accuse Daniel of, apart from his commitment to GOD. May we found living with integrity even in the silence of our privacy and thoughts. GOD judges the motives as well.
So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his GOD.”
Daniel 6:4-5 NKJV
All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions], but the LORD weighs and examines the motives and intents [of the heart and knows the truth].
Proverbs 16:2 AMP
More of GOD’s Grace, Love and Light,
Lydia Ndwiga.
