Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 75Believers just saying, “We’re praying,” is not enough when there‘s a persistentproblem. For victorious intercession to be accomplished it may be necessary to gather afew believers together to meet regularly for prayer, until the answer comes. There issupportive value in sharing our heartbreaks with a group of God’s people. Christ, youwill remember, wanted His disciples to be at His side during His agony inGethsemane. It wasn’t only their prayers that He wanted. It seems that He wantedsomeone to be with Him during those agonizing moments, to be an encouragement.Many have found that another way others can help us is by being those towhom we can be responsible and accountable. We can agree to report to the group, orat least to one individual, on our spiritual progress. If we know someone is going to askus, “How’s that problem coming?” We are going to be more inclined to flee fromtemptation. One man suggested to his friend, “Whenever you are tempted to take anotherdrink, call me collect, any time of day, and we’ll pray together over the phone.”It’s a great idea to met together with another, trusted, believer, whom we haveconfidence in, for sharing and praying is a great idea. To have someone we can becompletely honest with --- giving a report on failures and successes – can be animmense help in our spiritual development! Knowing that we have an appointmentcertainly will be an incentive to overcome temptations. Of course, if we do fail, we needto be honest. Our pride will want us to say that all is well when it may not be. But todevelop responsibility toward others – helps us to do what we ought.God wants to teach us through our difficult situations that we cannot live asuccessful Christian life independent of other believers. If we are wayward, we can berestored; if we are weak, others can share their strength with us. We should never thinkthat we can live independent lives, apart of other believers, for we will never live fully,successful Christian lives alone --- we need other redeemed believers.Restoring a BelieverWhat should we do when we see a fellow believer trapped in a sinful habit?Certainly, we do not discuss the matter with others, nor do we just do nothing, hopingthat someday they will snap out of it.The Bible is very explicit about our responsibility. If a believer has erred --- (notmerely violated some personal preferences we may have) --- it is our duty to restorehim, to help him rectify his relationship with God. Jesus taught, “And if your brothersins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if hedoes not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or threewitnesses every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you a Gentile [heathen] and a taxgatherer[the shunned and hated tax-collector]” (Matthew 18:15-17).Our first responsibility is to “go to him in private.” Don’t tell friends, relatives, orever the pastor! At this point, there is no reason to make the sin public. If the brother is