Why Do I Still Struggle After Being Born Again?
1) Direct Answer
You still struggle because the new life is in you, but your body and human spirit have not been redeemed yet. The Holy Spirit in your inner man wars against the flesh. That conflict is a sign of life, not a sign that you were not born again. God allows the fight to train you, prove you, and make you an overcomer.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). That’s the battle you feel.
- Paul said he delighted in God’s law “after the inward man,” yet felt another law in his members (Romans 7:22-25). Then he declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1-2).
- We “groan within ourselves, waiting for…the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). The soul is reborn now; the body’s redemption is future.
- Those sealed “with that Holy Spirit of promise” are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). God keeps what He births.
- “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him” (1 John 3:9). The Seed in the soul cannot deny the Word. When a believer stumbles, he is grieved and confesses (1 John 1:9), and has “an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
- God chastens sons (Hebrews 12:6-8). Correction is proof of sonship, not rejection.
- “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). “God…will…make a way to escape” for every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- Put on the whole armor of God and use the Sword of the Spirit, the Word (Ephesians 6:10-18).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- New birth changes your nature. You love the Word and hate sin. The struggle remains because you’re still in the same body with old habits pressing from the outside. The Seed inside cannot disbelieve the Word, but the flesh must be crucified daily. Feed the inner man with the Word and prayer, and starve the flesh by refusing its avenues (eyes, ears, thoughts, companions, places).
- Condemnation is the enemy’s voice; conviction is the Spirit drawing you to confess and walk on. If you can sin without grief, that’s danger; but if it pains you and drives you to Christ, that’s life.
4) Short Reinforcing Counsel
- Stay in the Word daily; speak it back to temptation.
- Pray and watch; avoid the doorways of the old life.
- Confess quickly; don’t hide. The Blood answers the accuser.
- Fellowship with the faithful; put on the armor.
- Remember: the battle means you’re alive. God started the work, and He will finish it.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Ye must be born again
58-0619B §14
...er. Then if I am saved, then I live like I'm saved. But I could live like I was saved and not be saved, see. So, it's the fact then, brings it to this spot, that we must be born again. So the born-again experience tells what we are. It doesn't mean that we... I believe in shouting, and all the manifestations and demonstrations of the Spirit, but yet that's not it yet, see. It's something different from that. It's a new creature, something in the heart. And I wonder if we ministers, both men and women, if many times...
You must be born again
61-1231M §99
...ng that same guitar. Filth! The Bible said in Isaiah, the twentieth chapter, "All tables are full of vomit. As a dog goes to its vomit and a hog to its wallow, so do they." Why? They're still dogs and hogs! That's what makes them return to the wallow and to the vomit. They ain't born again. If they're born again, they're new creatures.
Having conferences
60-0608 §97
...said, "That's right, doctor." He said, "What more could Abraham do but believe?" I said, "No more. But God gave him the seal of circumcision as a confirmation of his faith being reconciled." I said, "Has He ever sealed you, doctor, with the Holy Spirit?" See, if you say you got faith and He's never give you the Holy Ghost yet, He's never recognized your faith, see. After Abraham believed God, God give him the seal of circumcision as a sign that He had reconciled him or recognized his faith. If you say, "I got fait...
You must be born again
61-1231M §35
Now, to begin with, to base back, the reason we have to be born again is because the Bible teaches us that we were all born in sin, shaped in iniquity, and come to this world speaking lies. Then that shows us that our nature, to begin with, is sinful to start with. We're no good, to begin with. So we cannot claim anything by our shrewdness, our sincerity, or how great we are, or how little we are, or whatever more. We are altogether wrong to begin with, and there is nothing at all that we can do about it. You canno...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §27
But now, this person here is asking the question about the possibility of having the baptism of the Holy Ghost without signs following them. Now, it would... If you are born again you are ---if you are born first as a human being and a normal human being... Now, I'm answering this in a real juvenile way of doing it. But if you're born a normal human being, you will actually do the things that a normal human being would do. Is that right? When you're born as a human, the natural traits of a human being will follow y...