EVERY person who comes into Christianity comes with a lot of world training. They taught you self-confidence, self-esteem, self-help, and believing in yourself. When you came to Jesus, there was little room for Jesus to help you. Most new Christians assumed that Jesus wanted them to show Him what all they were willing to do FOR Him. You probably assumed that He wanted YOU to start living the Christian life. So, you tried to do better, tried to only do good things, and tried to be kind to people. You probably tried to go to church, tried to read your Bible, and tried to hang around Christians. You probably assumed that all these things would eventually rub off on you and you would become a better person. But instead, you went right on yielding to Satan’s temptations.

Now, let Jesus show you how to REALLY live the Christian life by getting His help. Rev 3:20 (NIV) Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. You have a God-given free will; and Jesus will NOT force Himself on you. BUT, Jesus said in John 15:5: apart from Me you can do nothing. Now, this will be a whole new way of going about your day; but, this is the ONLY way Christianity works. Instead of going about your day TRYING, you must go about your day PRAYING. Instead of you TRYING to do better; you PRAY and ASK Jesus to help you do better. Instead of you TRYING to be kind to people, you PRAY and ASK Jesus to empower you to be kind to people. But, this isn’t just a generic prayer that you pray once. This is something you do all during your day. Jesus will help you GRADUALLY learn how to pray and ask for His help all day long.

Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. As you find yourself failing like this, the important thing for you to notice is this WANT and HATE. This is new to you; you didn’t use to feel like this. They came into your attitudes the moment you became a Christian. This verse of Scripture describes EVERY new and untrained Christian. You are probably looking at people who seem to be living a lot better Christian life; but, some of them are pretending. They successfully live a pretty good life in front of you; but, when no one is watching, they struggle just like you do. Many get to thinking that Romans 7:15 is the way Christianity is supposed to be; BUT, it isn’t. The main reason they and you are struggling is because you are using human techniques to live a spiritual, godly life. It takes Biblical, spiritual, God-sized techniques to live the Christian life.

In fake religions, you have to do all the work. You have to learn all the systems, principles, and rules; THEN YOU HAVE TO DO THEM! You get no help from that god because it isn’t alive or real. In secular humanistic systems, you don’t even deal with whether or not there is a God. All the books, courses, systems, and training involve you helping yourself. If YOU can’t learn the lessons, follow the program, and make the self-changes, that is your problem. They indicate that you just aren’t adequate for their self-help programs.

You don’t have what it takes to live the Christian life; but, Jesus does. Here is the way things are in a true religion, in a way of life with a LIVING God, and in a set of rules that are based on the fact that Jesus really did raise from the dead and is alive. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 (NIV): “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Asside from the fact that Jesus created you and caused you to be born, asside from the fact that you wouldn’t have a universe, a world, air, a body, and all the provisions on this planet, asside from you not being able to HAVE any of these things without Jesus, you also can’t DO anything in the Christian life without Jesus. So, it isn’t what you can do for Jesus; it is what Jesus can do for you. Phil 4:13 (NIV) I can do everything through Him (Jesus) Who gives me strength.

Jesus said in John 15:5 (NIV) I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. Before you became a Christain, as long as you were willing to go along with the desires of your body, you didn’t need help living a sinful life. You had to do it in a socially acceptable way; but, you and your body were a team. But, if you are going to live the Christian life and win over your body, you are going to have to get Jesus’ help. And, if you are going to get Jesus’ help, you will have to learn HOW to get Jesus’ help. Jesus isn’t your servant or slave; He is your Lord. He is a kind, gentle, loving, and generous Lord; but, He IS your Lord. He will establish a wonderful and loving relationship with you; but, you will have to follow some rules so as to get His help.

The problem you face with getting Jesus’ help WITH ANYTHING is understanding how life with Jesus works.

1. You have to learn that Jesus honors your God-given free will all the time; He will only do what you DESIRE Him to do.


2. The next thing you need to understand is, He will only use Bible principles you are familiar with; if you haven’t STUDIED and learned a Bible principle, He won’t use it.


3. Another thing you need to know is, He won’t help you with anything you don’t PRAY and ask Him to help you with; you have to pray and invite Him into your situation with life.


4. After that, you have to learn how to wait for Him to give you the faith you need so you can BELIEVE and be sure He HAS given you His power to win over your issues with life.


5. Then you have to do EVERYTHING based on God’s LOVE. If you try to get Jesus to help with something that is selfish and only beneficial to you, He won’t do it.


6. Finally, you have to ACTUALLY do it, if you know it, understand it, and know how to apply it but don’t do it, you will fail at life; you must take FAITH-ACTION.

Once you start living on the basis of these six Biblical principles, you will start experiencing a greater degree of His power-relationship. This power-relationship with Jesus will set you free from problems and issues that are trying to defeat you. They will help you be empowered to resist the temptations of the devil.

Rom 7:24 (NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Since Satan is using your body to tempt you, you need Jesus’ powerful help to deal with your body. If you allow Jesus to help you cut off the body-door from being the avenue for Satan to tempt you, that will provide you with a major victory. The way for you to get Jesus’ help is to do what the person in this verse of Scripture is doing. Cry out to Jesus and ask Him to help you with your body of death.

Rom 7:25a (NIV) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! Jesus is your answer to this body of death. Even though you can’t make your body do what you WANT and stop doing what you HATE, through Jesus Christ your Lord, you will receive the power to close the body-door to Satan.

Rom 7:25b (NIV) So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Your mind is in your spirit; the sinful nature is in your body. If you start exposing your mind to Bible courses led by Jesus, the power of Jesus and the Bible will start flowing into your spirit. You will be taught by Jesus how to apply the principles of the Bible to your situation. The training from Jesus and the power from Jesus will enable you to start winning over your body of death.

Rom 8:1 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. As you start on this journey, you are going to make a lot of mistakes; you will fail because of your lack of training; and you will yield to your body. When you do, you will have to repent (make a mental and physical U-turn). Tell Jesus you are sorry for doing what you did and ask for His forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Don’t try to justify what you did; don’t try to make yourself feel good about it; don’t try to explain it away; and don’t try to tell Jesus that you will never do it again. Just repent of it and go make it right with anyone you sinned against.

Rom 8:2 (NIV) Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the Spirit of life is a new law that now governs your life. Even though you are making spiritual MISTAKES, they are NOT held against you. Because you WANTED to do good, and, because you HATED doing wrong, Jesus credited you with righteousness. What you did was wrong; but, it DID NOT separate you from your relationship with God. You are still His child, still a member of His family, and still a citizen of His eternal Kingdom. All you have to do is: confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and will purify you from all unrighteousness.

Rom 8:13-14 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The first part of this passage says: For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. The reason this sentence doesn’t apply to you, when you yield to temptation, is because you have been born again. As long as you maintain your attitude of WANTING and HATING, you have what Jesus is looking for. Prior to you learning how to apply The Six Biblical Principles in your life, Jesus provides you with a perfect record with God. As you learn how to apply these principles, you will be able to stop yielding to Satan’s temptations.

Right now you are living the Romans chapter seven life. That means you yield to temptation because you haven’t learned how to take advantage of the Holy Spirit’s power. When you sin as a Romans seven Christian, you have to confess your sins to Jesus, repent (make a U-turn), and then go make it right with the person or group you sinned against. This is a confusing, failing, and difficult time in your Christian life. In your Romans chapter eight life, you learn how to put to death the misdeeds of the body. In other words, you start getting involved in prevention. Rather than sinning and making it right, you over power your body and keep it from sinning in the first place. Obviously this is by far the better way of living the Christian life.

Rom 6:14-16 (NIV) For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you OFFER yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you OBEY--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? The difference between you and a fake Christian is, you aren’t OFFERING yourself to temptation and sin; your body is DRAGGING you into sin; or, as Romans 7:23 says: making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. You have this attitude about how you are currently living the Christian life: Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. You are allowing Jesus to empower you to WANT to do good and HATE to do wrong.

Rom 7:24 (NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? The fact that you are doing this study demonstrates this true Christian attitude. Even though it is true of you that, you do not understand what you do, for what you want to do you do not do, but what you hate you do, YOU are still a Christian. You have the true attitude of wanting good and hating sin. SO, since this is true, then “if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die” does not apply to you; God is crediting right, good, and righteousness to your record. This is so you can have time to learn how to start winning over your body.

“All” you have to do is: “if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” You have already found out that you by yourself can’t stop yielding to temptation. And, once again that is typical of the true Christian. We all start out with this discovery: Rom 7:18 (NIV) I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the DESIRE to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. All true new and untrained Christians experience this fact or truth. They have the desire; they just don’t have the training. Jesus requires that you do what you are doing; you are studying His truths. You are learning how to live the victorious Christian life.