How to Stop Sinning

I suggest a prerequisite for reading the following is my write up on “Who We are in Christ/Our New Identities in Christ.”

I needed to write this out for my own life as well. I learned a lot in the last couple of days concerning this and I have to share it. This only applies to the believer, or Christian. A nonbeliever has not covered him or herself in the blood of Christ nor has the tools of the Kingdom to refrain from sinning.

We do sin. Although Christian sin, the bible tells us how Christians can stop sinning. I want to first express the possibility that a Christian can stop sinning. When I taught Sunday school, I would often get into a semi-confrontation with an old man minister. He asserted that no one can stop sinning because “We are all sinners.” This is why I mentioned that a prerequisite to reading this is my write up called “Who We are in Christ/ Our New Identities in Christ.” At one time he pointed out that in the book of James it says that no man can tame the tongue. (He didn’t understand how to read the book of James. I’ll have to insert that here in a moment.) To get the idea of how “crazy” this guy is, when I told him that I tamed my tongue a long time ago, and haven’t uttered a curse word in over 10 years, he looked me in the eyes with an evil face and said, “If I were to come up there right now and punch you in the face, you cannot tell me that you would not curse.” I knew then that he was not all there and I had my personal assumptions beforehand. But knowing that a curse word is not in me; knowing that if I were to stub my toe, the only words that would come out would be “pain!” and “ouch!” then I knew that even his crazy scenario would not pan out like he would expect it to. If he knew his history, while Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was preaching on love your enemies and turn the other cheek if they hit you, a white supremacist from the audience stood up, walked up to the pulpit, and punched Dr. King in the face. Dr. King’s entourage got up to restrain the guy, but Dr. King told them don’t lay a hand on him, and he just continued to preach the sermon.

So because of the old man minister’s comment about the book of James I have to insert this here. About the book of James:

It should be noted that Christians are called Saints about 62 times in the New Testament. Only once in the New Testament are Christians referred to as "sinners," and that is found in James. James is different from Paul's letters because James is talking to Christians from a worldly perspective, or from the perspective of the flesh. James' style and rhetoric is unique and exclusive to James. Of course, James is speaking God's word in his book, but we must understand James' audience and his perspective to understand fully what he is saying because a couple of things he says seem to contradict Paul's writings. I'll deal with this issue of the Book of James first, so we can move on to Paul's writings.

James' audience is Christian. He is not telling non-Christians how to get saved. He is telling Christians how to get into fellowship with God. In fact, James is not dealing with salvation at all in his book. Without knowing this, it looks like James directly contradicts Paul. Look at James 2:24. It reads, "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." Well, Paul said in Romans 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Paul says in Galatians 2:16-17, "...know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law, no one will be justified." And Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." If James is talking about how to get saved, then both Paul and James cannot be true. Martin Luther wanted to take James out of the bible because he thought that it contradicted Paul's writings. But James is not talking about salvation. Paul is. Christians fall in and out of fellowship with God as they live their lives, choosing sin, then repenting and turning back to God. If a Christian repents with no works to show forth, in other words, if a Christian repents of getting drunk with alcohol, but does not stop getting drunk, they are not justified for fellowship because they simply have faith that they are. "Faith" as James is using it here means trusting that God will do what He said He will do, and acting on what God says simply because He said it. James 2:14 reads, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" The word "save" here is not referring to eternal salvation. It means "rescue" here. Look at how James uses the word "save" in James 1:21, "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you." Only a Christian has the word "planted in them." "Save" here means "rescuing" from trials and tribulations the Christian goes through. Well it's the same word James uses in 2:14, and he is using it the same way: to mean "rescue." The “trials” theme is prevalent in the book of James (1:2-18, 5:7-12).

That is one example of how James is coming from a different perspective from Paul, and we must understand his perspective to understand that what seems to be contradicting Paul, is really a different topic than Paul's. James is not dealing with the Christians' new identity in Christ as Paul, Peter, and the author of Hebrews are all careful to pay attention to in their letters. Here is an example: James 4:8 reads: "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Compare that to Ephesians 1:1 "...To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus." 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Heb. 3:1, "Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess." No where does Paul, Peter, or the author of Hebrews call a Christian a "sinner" because we are no longer sinners, we are saints who sin. Jesus is the one who technically purifies our hearts. He did that on the cross (past tense). We do not have the power to do what only Jesus was able to do. But James here tells the Christian to purify the heart. James' perspective here is from the perspective of the flesh. Our flesh sins and tempts us to sin, but we are not our flesh. Perhaps I can illuminate James' perspective from the flesh (as opposed to the perspective of our new power in Christ) with this example. Look at James 3:8 "...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." Well, from the perspective of the flesh, that's true, but from the perspective of our new selves, using the power of Christ, the tongue can be tamed. Look at Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Galatians 5:16, "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." If we, by our humanly effort, try to tame the tongue, it is impossible as James said, but in Luke, Jesus said, "With God, all things are possible." If we speak not from the flesh, but from a spiritual perspective, then we submit our flesh to God, and Christ tames our tongue for us by His power, not by our own power. There is nothing wrong with the book of James. We just have to know and understand his perspective (he is talking from the perspective of the flesh to Christians about fellowship) to not get his writings confused and think that they contradict other passages.

Jesus told a man, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” He wouldn’t tell the person to do something if it were impossible for them to do it.

Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). Your company does not just include your friends. What you watch on television, or what you listen to on the radio is who you are spending your company with. And especially do not spend your company with any demonic influences like tarot cards or Ouija boards.

How to Keep From Sinning (Part one) It has come upon my heart to do this one more series. It should be short and quick. I needed to write this out for my own life as well. I learned a lot in the last couple of days concerning this and I have to share it. This only applies to the believer, or Christian. A nonbeliever has not covered him or herself in the blood of Christ nor has the tools of the Kingdom to refrain from sinning. And what is sin to the unbeliever anyways? It is then called doing wrong, not sin. Sin is an offense against God. Doing wrong is to offend one's conscience or the laws of the land. This pertains to the sin of the Christian. A great prerequisite to this is the series, Who we are in Christ that I already did in this thread. There I explained that we have a new nature that cannot sin (according to 1 John 3:9). The old has gone and the new has come (1 Corinthians 5:17). The old nature has been crucified to the cross and is therefore dead (Romans 6:6). You are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:6; 18). We now have power over sin in Christ (Romans 6:14). All of that is good to know. It is good to know who we are in Christ because if we were to wrongly think we are sinners then we would act like sinners, but knowing that we have been renewed in Christ and have taken on His righteousness, and then we will presumably, act like who we know ourselves to be.

But that is all academic knowledge. We need something more concrete-something that will give us power and the mindset to not sin today. Especially if we are deep in sin and are living according to the flesh; and, it seems like the flesh is completely controlling our lives—we need something that we can use today; right now to get us out this mess!!! I would like to share 4 passages in particular with you that will show us how to stop sinning all together. Luckily for us, God did not just tell us to be holy and not sin against Him; He gave us the means by which to do it. To be clear, I am talking about the sin of rebellion, not the sin of ignorance or sins that do not count toward rebellion. The bible says that not all sin leads to death (1 John 5:17). So I am not talking about sin that does not lead to death. Biblical death doesn't mean you died physically, but spiritually (cf. 1 Timothy 5:6). It means you have taken yourself out of the fellowship of God through sin. We cannot lose salvation, but we can lose fellowship. After reading this so called series explaining how to never sin again, just keep in mind that if we do sin, He is still faithful and just to forgive us our sins and restore us back into fellowship when we repent.

As always, please turn with me in your bibles. The first of the 4 passages I would like us to look at Galatians 5:16-26. Verse 16 reads, So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Yes, the Holy Spirit keeps us from sinning. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to give us the power to not sin. He is our power to never be in rebellion against God again. We need to pick this verse to pieces to see exactly what it is telling us to do. What does it mean to live by the Spirit? The more Holy Spirit you are filled with, the less willing you are to engage in sin. Live by means it must be a lifestyle of continual filling. And since sin is so impromptu (it can just sneak up on us with force), we must be ready and already filled up with the Spirit for whenever the Day of Temptation sneaks up. Sin and the flesh desire two different things. To be filled of the Spirit is to be emptied of the flesh. You can't be both Spirit filled and flesh filled. Like filling up a car with gasoline, we must be continually be filled of the Spirit, and then the next day, get refilled. Soon as you take off from the gas station you are becoming less filled. So it is with the filling of the Spirit. Soon as we take off after getting filled, our filling starts to slowly empty itself until we have to get filled back up. If we wait for the day of Temptation before getting filled with the Spirit, it will be too late. So please make this a daily routine to fill yourself up on some Holy Ghost.

The bible tells us how to be filled in the following verses. But note that we cannot buffet the flesh to stop sinning. That's like telling a dog he cannot bark, or commanding a fish to not swim. It is the flesh's job to sin because that's its nature. Our power comes from the Spirit, not from New Year's resolutions of commanding the flesh what or what not to do. The Spirit shuts up the flesh, not us. Verse 17, For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. Note here which side Paul says you are on. If the Spirit is in you, then you have two who convict you: your conscience and the Spirit. The Spirit groans when we sin. And when the Spirit groans, it does not feel good to our consciences and we convict ourselves. God gave Christians 2 spirits to check us with: His own Spirit, and our spirit. The problem with rebellion is that we tune out both spirits when we are deep in sin and sinning no longer affects us. We ought not get to that point because that is a tall-tall sign that we are spiritually dead. When our spirits no longer convict us when we sin, that is a huge sign we are out of fellowship with God.

You do not do what you want to do when you sin, because we are on the side of the Spirit by nature because God purchased you and gave you a new nature, purified your spirit; and, unfortunately, he didn't purify our flesh, or bodies, that we are battling with here.

Verse 18, But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Romans 6:14 says, For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Combining these two statements we get: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are under grace and sin will not be your master. The Spirit gives us grace against sin. Grace is God doing for us what we do not deserve or can do for ourselves. Note that verse 18 is a conditional statement because of the word if. We have to let the Spirit lead us. That means we have to submit to the Spirit. Paul will tell us how to submit to the Spirit in a moment, but first he lists some of the acts of the flesh and says they are obvious. Please study that list because I believe we all can find some things on that list that we are guilty of. First on the list is sexual immorality, and then impurity and debauchery. That covers all sexual sins even sex outside of marriage. Idolatry is mentioned next-not just referring to idolatry to another god, but also if we make money to be our god then we've committed idolatry. Witchcraft-that includes reading horoscopes and Ouija boards. Not only is hatred mentioned, but also discord and jealousy, that is, trying to put others down so we can gain. Fits of rage is listed, which is a temperament that many people have. Selfish ambition is mentioned. God wants us to be other-centered and not self-centered in our thinking. And there are others. He says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. That statement includes Christians. The word inherit means reward. I explained in the What Heaven is Like series how there will be saved Christians who will not inherit the kingdom of God. So how do we submit to the Spirit? We must know and put on His qualities. Verse 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Memorize these traits. Meditate on them and pray that you receive these unto your own spirit and live by them. Remember, So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. If you put on these traits, by a constant filling at the pump, then you will not give in to your temptations and will stand victorious in righteousness and fellowship with God. If the flesh was making you do fits of rage, pray that God's Spirit give you a spirit of gentleness and self-control. Do you think that is a prayer God won't answer? Of course He will! By grace will He give it to you-that is, He will do it for you because you were unable to do it yourself and you asked. Grace is free, and grace is God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself. We are not to live the Christian life. Only Christ has lived the Christian life. We are to submit to Him so that Jesus lives the Christian life through us. Against these things there is no law. We don't have to even think about what Thus saith the Lord when we have put on these qualities because we will be living in grace. By putting on these we are putting on Spirit power and grace and will be ready for whenever the Day of Temptation comes into our lives. Three more verses…verse 24, Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Sin is no longer in you-the you you-it is in the flesh which is not you, therefore sin has been greatly weakened against you. The flesh is no longer breathing so to speak either. It is no longer putting out more sin that it was receiving from the sinful nature before you got saved. It has been spayed or neutered. What is there is what was left over when it got shut down through Christ. The flesh harbors your old nature, it does not create more. Romans 6:6 says, For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Verse 25, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Remember back in verse 18 it said that the Spirit is leading us. This verse it says let us keep in step with His lead as if we are marching with Him in this life and war against our flesh. Verse 26 I'll just quote: Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. That would be out of step with the Spirit's lead. I just have 3 more passages to share on how to not sin. I don't know how many parts there will be, but I'm ending this here. I hope you enjoy. God bless.

How to Keep from Sinning (Part 2) The second of the 4 passages brings me to Titus 2:11-14. Paul reveals one of the greatest powers we have against sin. Verse 11 reads, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. [12] It teaches us to say "No to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Last time we saw that the Holy Spirit helps keep us from sinning as long as we live by Him and put on, pray for, keep in step with, be led by, and meditate on His qualities. Here, Paul says that the grace of God-this same grace that brings salvation-teaches us to say No to ungodliness. Again, grace is God giving us or doing for us what we cannot obtain or do for ourselves. Refraining from sin is something that we just cannot do ourselves without the grace of God. God does it for us because we cannot do it ourselves.

Please note that living righteously and not sinning is a learning process that God's grace teaches us to do. A brand new Christian cannot expect to live completely upright the next day because it is a process that God brings us through throughout our lives. Paul said in Philippians, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me (Phil 3:12). God's grace is his power made manifest in our lives. So how do we apply grace here? What should we do to apply God's grace to keep us from sinning? The answer: listen. Note in our passage here it is God's grace doing the teaching. We are to just be studious listeners and learners. God's grace teaches everyone on an individual basis. What I need to keep from sinning may not be exactly what you need to refrain. But God's grace teaches both of us what we need. Now, it is really, really, extremely difficult to listen if we are living a rebellious life because as I said before, rebellion is tuning out God's grace and becoming comfortable in our sins. It is not listening to God. It is when our consciences no longer bother us when we sin that we are in rebellion. That is not listening to the grace of God, who by His grace wants to teach us how to remain godly before Him. To be good listeners does not mean that we correct ourselves of all sin and be holy and pure-we are unable to do that ourselves. In fact, we are listening to the instruction of how to become holy and pure. It is grace first then pure living. What listening does mean is that we do not deliberately tune God out with our sin. Don't love sin! The love of sin tunes out God. Now this verse would not be sitting here before us if living self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age were not possible to do. Some Christians hold the position that we are all sinners (which is not true if you've come to Christ: you are now saints who sin) and cannot live godly lives in this present age. That is true in a sense because we cannot by our own volition of the flesh, make ourselves live godly lives in this present age, but that is not what the text is saying. It is saying that God is able to make us live godly lives in this present age. We may be unable, but God can do all things including making us be able to live godly lives in this present age. Not when we get to heaven-this present age! We must rely on His grace for us to remain faithful unto Him. That means put no confidence in the flesh. Paul in the book of Philippians tells us to put no confidence in the flesh. The flesh cannot do it. By God's Spirit and grace, He does it.

Food for thought: can you imagine being able to say No! to worldly passions on the whim? Remember Joseph with Potiphar's wife who was seducing him? He said No! and ran. That's one way of doing it. Don't compromise with sin, just say No and run. But God will teach you and me by His grace how to do it. The bible even says that God does not give temptation too difficult for us to bear and resist and that He always has a door of escape opened to you. So let us be careful and attentive listeners of His grace. God teaches us in two ways: He can speak to your mind and especially when you pray and ask for the answers; and He teaches you in His word. Sin crowds out what God is trying to tell you. We have to tune out what sin is telling us and listen for what the grace of God is saying. Verse 13, …while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (v. 14) who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Note that this verse is an affirmation of Jesus' deity. We are His. Over and over again in the bible, the return of Christ is an incentive for us to live holy and righteous lives. Because He is coming, we want to be living pure when we meet. That would be a smooth transition for Him to give us our rewards. Imagine living impure when Jesus sneaks up on us. We will have to go through His rebukes of our lives and how we turned away from Him, and we will receive much fewer rewards. Here it says Jesus purified us, so we are holy, but God calls on us to live like the purified people He made us to be. Lastly, in this verse it says, eager to do what is good. If we are eager to do good, which we have the Spirit in us that moves us to do good, then we will be great listeners of His grace and learn how to live right and do good without any static in our reception of His word to us. There are two more passages left. God bless.

How to Keep from Sinning (Part 3) The third passage at hand brings me to a very familiar passage, but I'm not so sure that the true application of it is as well known. Ephesians 6:10-20 speaks of putting on the full armor of God. This passage has many applications, but today we are applying it to our battle of sin. Paul commands us in vs. 10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [11] Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Satan is going to attack us with sin and temptation. He attacked Jesus with sin and temptation too and Jesus used the word of God to get rid of him. We will be using the word of God too because, as we will see, it is part of this battle armament. Satan cannot attack us successfully when we are wearing this armor of God. He says that with this armor we will be able to take our stand against Satan's schemes. Please keep in mind that Satan himself is stronger than us because he's an angel, but with God's tools we become stronger than him. This armor helps to keep us from sinning because part of Satan's schemes is to get us to fall out of fellowship from God and into rebellion and sin. He will attack us surreptitiously, without us realizing we are being attacked, just like he did Adam and Eve who didn't realized they got duped by the devil until it was too late. Satan often uses stealth when he attacks. He makes sin look more appealing than it really is. We don't realize the sinful ideas are even coming from him. But if we are wearing God's armor, his arrows of attack will simply bounce off of us.

Verse 12: For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

First thing we should know is that we are in a war. It is really difficult to fight a war if you are unaware that you are in one. We are in a spiritual war. Who are our enemies? Demonic angels are our enemies-rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are being attacked on all sides-both from this world and even from above. Once Daniel prayed a prayer to God and way later on an angel came down to tell him that the reason his prayer was delayed was because angels were battling in the heavenly realm on his behalf to get that prayer through. Angelic battles go on in heaven on our behalf and since Satan has been kicked down to earth a battle between him and his goons against us ensues here too. Note who our battle is not against-people. It is not against flesh and blood meaning humans. Our battle is only against the demonic forces of the universe. Man is not our problem. But you may say, Stateman63, I hear what you are saying, but you don't know my coworker…he is an evil person. He may be, but he is not the source of your problem. The source of the problem is the demonic forces that created the evilness in your coworker. What this all means is that since this is a war, we cannot fight the wrong enemy. We must fight Satan not man. It also means that we must use spiritual tools to fight a spiritual battle. Our battle is not flesh and blood, also meaning not physical. We need spiritual weapons, yes, invisible weapons to fight this war. Satan weakens God's army through sin. So let us put on our armor and not let him thwart God's army or kingdom. It is important to note that we live in two very distinct worlds: one that is seen, and one that is unseen. We have a battle going on in the one that is unseen. This is our battle, not God's. Please check all battle passages and you will see that the battle is between Satan and the Church, not Satan and God, except for the final battle. If God were to go into battle, do you think the battle would last that long? He wouldn't have to lift a finger. He would just speak and all of his enemies would be gone.

Why does God let this battle between the Church and demonic forces continue? So that God can show the world that He can do more with the weaker vessel (humans) who trust in Him than with the stronger foe (angels) that do not trust in Him, proving that we need God and not our own strength, which in the end will give God all the glory. God wants to show that He can do more with less. It proves that God is the one who is in control. Vs. 13, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

The NLV, same verse, Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.

I like the last part of this verse, that's why I quoted it, but there is not much resisting when you are wearing God's armor. Satan's arrows will flaming arrows will extinguish when he attacks you and he simply cannot penetrate God's armor. After the battle is over and you are wearing it, you will be left standing victoriously. Please note whose armor it is. It is God's armor. You say, But I don't speak truthfully yet, so I'm not worthy to put on this armor. No, put on God's belt of truth and He will get you there. It's not your armor so what we do or don't do does not affect its power. This armor is not reliant upon your deeds for its effectiveness. If worthiness counted, do you think we could ever live up to the breastplate of righteousness? Being that it is God's armor, Satan has no power against it.

Vs. 14, Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, [15] and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

These of course, coincide with the armament of the Roman soldier. But God has his invisible armament that he is supplying us with. The Roman soldier's belts were made of bronze and would have slots to hold the sword and/or dagger. I stated that just as an example. I'm not going through and comparing all of the Roman's armor to God's. God's is a belt of truth, no doubt to repel the lies and deception of Satan when he attacks. The breastplate of righteousness covers our chest, which covers our hearts to repel sin and evil in this world. God wants our hearts to be kept pure. A soldier must be able to move quickly on his or her feet. Our feet are wearing the gospel of peace which perhaps dispels confusion and disorder. The word readiness implies that these shoes make us ready to deal with the impromptu attacks of Satan.

Vs. 16, In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. [17] Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Not only can we extinguish all of Satan's attacks against us, but we can also go on the offensive and use our sword of the Spirit to attack him.

Verbally out loud speak God's word to him. Say what Jesus said to him: Get behind me Satan; for I'm wearing the full armor of God. The helmet protects our minds and our thoughts from Satan's deception. So how does all of this work? What do I need to do to apply this? Put on the whole armor of God. Since God deals in the spiritual unseen world, we need to put it on in the unseen way. Look at yourself in the mirror and picture putting on each body armor piece and picture yourself wearing the entire armor of God. Do this every day in the morning before you go out. If we were fighting in Iraq and had to go out, the first thing we would do is put on our body armor and grab our weapon. Same is true for the unseen spiritual battle we are facing. We need to go out with this armor. As I said, this passage has many applications. Say if you suffer with anxiety or depression. Put on this whole armor before going out and you will be protected by the devil's flaming arrows he throws at you. His attacks cannot penetrate your body armor. And even imagine yourself going on the offensive and waving your Sword at the devil, and he has to flee and leave you. The devil won't be there to attack you anymore! He cannot withstand the armament of God. Don't go out without putting your body armor on! Even if you are in a hurry, put it on between your house and your car before you leave. It is vital to withstand Satan's attacks. And lastly, verse 18 says, And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. What does pray in the Spirit mean ? Many, including myself, believe that it could be referring to praying in tongues.

Romans 8:26 says, In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Speaking or praying in tongues simply means that you are uttering a language not your own. In this case here, it is an angelic language that taps into the language of God that He is speaking on our behalf. He completes our prayer, through tongues, that we are unable to pray because we did not have the words to say. But it also says with all kinds of prayers and requests, so that means pray in human language too. We must not forget the power of prayer. Pray on all occasions. And again I have to ask, do you think that praying: God, please give me the strength and power to not sin against you today is a prayer that God won't answer? God answers prayers that are in agreement with His Spirit and will. There is one more passage on how to stand against sin that I'd like to share. God bless.