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.
You must be born again
61-1231M §118
...nner, or not, I don't know. I can't say that. But this one thing I do know, wherein I was once blind, I now see." What was he doing? He was vindicated. That's right. He was being vindicated. Something happened to him. His being was changed from darkness to light, from blind to sight. And a man that's born of the Spirit of God---that once had a form of godliness, deny the Word thereof, and the power thereof, and to say the days of miracles is past---when he's born again, he might not be a scholar, he might not be ab...
You must be born again
61-1231M §64
So, in order ... if you're born again and got a new parent, then you got a new nature. The old nature's dead, and you got a new nature. You once was going one way; now you're going another way. You once was going this way, down; now you're going this way, up. Your affections are set on things above. A new affection. You don't love the things of the world no more; your affection's of God. You don't care what man says, how they laugh at you, and say you're "old model," or whatever it is like that. You don't care, bec...
Questions and Answers
62-0527 §29
...d, when He passed the judgment upon Adam and Eve, she'd already done the sin before He could pass the judgment. And, listen, did you ever know that the first child was ever born in the world was "born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies"? The very first one that was ever born was born that way. You say, "What about Adam and Eve?" They wasn't born. They were created, see. But the first child ever come was born in sin, so it has to be that line. "A man that's born of a woman is of few days and...
You must be born again
61-1231M §38
And, remember, the first thing, until you're born again you'll never understand. Twice He spoke it. "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom." "Except a man be born again, he cannot even see the kingdom." Now, that's punctuated, too. The word ... making all those words; they tell me that they had to write it out. When they say, "Verily, verily," that's a punctuation like a capital. "Verily, verily, I say unto you!" And the word in one place, or many places, it's translated "absolutely." "Absolutely,...
You must be born again
61-1231M §123
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot understand the kingdom of God." Don't try to understand it. You'll never do it. Jesus said you could not. Just accept it. Accept it on the basis of His Word. Don't walk in blindly now, and say, "O Lord, give me a sensation. Lord, I tell You..." No. Just say, "Lord, kill me, take the world out of me. I still love the things of the world." I don't mean the creation, sunsets and beauty, and stuff like that. That ain't what I'm talking about. I'm th...