This is an issue that has plagued all Christians throughout history. While we will never be perfectly free of sin, this should be our goal. There are resources God has given us that will help us walk in greater victory.
The Holy Spirit. We need to walk in the Spirit, yielding to His control. This means choosing to consistently follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting in our lives rather than following the flesh. Obedience to God is how the filling of the Spirit is maintained. Paul prays in Ephesians 3:16 “that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”
2. The Word of God. The Bible teaches us how to live and what to believe, it reveals to us when we have chosen wrong paths, it helps us get back on the right path, and it helps us to stay on that path. The more we read and meditate on the Bible, the easier it will be to hear His voice and discern His presence, which will aid us in feeling conviction against sin.
3. Prayer. Jesus warned His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray so that they would not fall into temptation. Through prayer we connect to God’s inexhaustible power turning to Him for strength to do what He wants us to do. Also, through continual prayer, we draw closer to God and as we do our love for Him grows to the point where we don’t want to sin because we don’t want anything to affect that precious relationship we have with Him.
4. Accountability. It is important not to forsake the assembly of the brethren. By being in church and among other believers, we are able to encourage one another and confess our sins to one another. There is real power to having someone else to pray with and have accountability with in our lives.
5. Know there is a way of escape. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 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. This passage of Scripture clearly states that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what were are able, meaning that every temptation to sin can be overcome. Also, with every temptation, God will make a way of escape. Temptation is not a trap, but an opportunity for us to cry out and lean on the arm of the Lord to help us find that way of escape and defeat the temptation to sin.