I am a man with more sins than Saul himself. I have stolen, lied, committed adultery, told my girlfriend to get an abortion with my firstborn son, helped kill in the war in Iraq, manipulated, and probably every other thing in the book. I am addicted to the lust of the flesh and I don’t know how to give up sin. I have asked God for help, but I know that I can’t do anything on my own because every time I take the wheel, I drive my life further into the hell of this earth. How do I give up sin? How do I break away from my addictions? How do I develop self-control? I feel that even God looks away from me, even though I have been told once my name is written in the book of life I will not be removed. I was baptized and saved in fifth grade, but after going through sexual abuse; physical abuse; never having a stable home; watching my mom sleep around and date convicts, drug addicts, and alcoholics; seeing my dad go through cancer; carrying dead bodies in Iraq; putting pieces of my best friends in plastic bags; aborting my son; having sex with another girl who also had an abortion; having a one night stand with a girl who has a daughter that I am establishing paternity with after two years; and not being able to walk away from my sin, I am lost. I need the Lord; I need to follow him, but I have nothing left in me, and every time I get up I fall. What do I do?<\/p>\n
I can’t escape the clutches of the devil. He prowls the earth like a lion and he is devouring me.<\/p>\n\t
It is one thing to grieve over your past, but something else to become determined to change yourself. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11). God does promise that nothing you face isn’t within your ability to overcome. “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<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:13). I take it that you are one tough man to make it this far, but you need to get back on track.<\/p>\n I would like to talk to you about these things if you would be willing to give me a call. I might be blunt, but I’m a kind person who is willing to listen.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am a man with more sins than Saul himself. I have stolen, lied, committed adultery, told my girlfriend to get an abortion with my firstborn son, helped kill in the war in Iraq, manipulated, and probably every other thing in the book. I am addicted to the lust of the flesh and I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[811,179],"class_list":["post-29607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-self-control","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27351,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-falling-back-into-pornography-i-know-it-is-stupid-but-i-need-help\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":0},"title":"I’m falling back into pornography. I know it is stupid, but I need help","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a very embarrassing problem and question, and I need help. I was born again several years ago and there is absolute evidence in my life of that. When I was born again, God set me free of hate anger, and lust (sexual, pornography, masturbation, etc). Pornography has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-be-overweight\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":1},"title":"Is it a sin to be overweight?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Jeffrey, I have a couple of questions on things I've been having personal struggles with. We know that gluttony is sinful. I know, or at least believe, that means in all things, not just foods. However, there are so many of us who are overweight. I recently have let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51934,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-addictions-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":2},"title":"Are all addictions sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm still confused about I Corinthians 6:12, where it says, \"I will not be enslaved by anything.\" To me, it sounds like all addictions are sinful. I know we talked about this, but I'm still confused. Answer: In I Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul gave a list of some sins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7218,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thoughts-on-self-control\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":3},"title":"Thoughts on Self-Control","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Brian Resnick, \"The Myth of Self-Control,\" Vox, 24 November 2016. Source: W. Hofmann, \"Everyday temptations: an experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control,\" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June 2012, 102(6):1318-35. The author doesn't believe self-control exists, yet oddly, he only proves that his definition of self-control is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-keep-repeating-sins-ive-repented-of-am-i-really-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":4},"title":"I keep repeating sins I’ve repented of. Am I really saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am 23 years of age and in need of some help and prayers. Lately, I have been faced with the question of if I am really saved or not and was wondering if I could get some advice on the situation. Also, I have been praying and praying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16502,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-book-can-i-commit-to-memory-to-overcome-sexual-lusts\/","url_meta":{"origin":29607,"position":5},"title":"Which book can I commit to memory to overcome sexual lusts?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My Christian life hasn't been very fruitful, to say the least. I still engage in the same sexual lusts that I once did and I am searching for the right book in the New Testament to commit to memory so that I can combat these temptations. I can't win\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}