The earnestness of young believers for the Lord's things has always been an encouragement. Can you not recall how you desired to live for Christ when you were first saved? In the freshness of first love there was that holy consecration to separate from that which was inconsistent with the new life in Christ. It wasn't long before the Holy Spirit was controlling many areas of your life; but then temptation came.
Every believer is tempted, and always will be—some in one way and some in another. Tragedy may mark the end of any temptation, but it need not be so, for the Scripture reads, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13.
This is written to be of help to any who have failed to gain the victory over a particular temptation, and are now bound by a pet sin or habit. You may have sincerely wanted to surrender this area to Christ. You have tried to fight that besetting sin; you seemingly surrendered it, and trusted God for it, but you continue grieving the Lord.
The first step to victory is to understand that our battle as a Christian is in the spiritual realm. We must realize that the primary place of attack by Satan is in the mind. There is the battlefield; there he gains entrance. It is Satan's strategy to gain strongholds, and those temptations that we just cannot resist are his strongholds in our lives. We have trained our minds to respond in a certain way—the wrong way—and it needs to be removed.
"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Eph. 4:23. "Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2).
It is most important in renewing the mind to identify the problem of sin with the cross of Christ. Call it sin; confess it to God as sin. Understand that we do not sin because we cannot help it, but because we want to. We have not yet let Christ have His way. Look at your sin from God's perspective; see it as horrid, abominable, wretched, and as the sin for which Christ died.
God uses His Word. Memorize scriptures that deal with your need, and appropriate them. Use them as the mighty weapons of God to destroy the devil's hold upon you. Take that temptation to the cross. Let the cross remind you of what Christ has done for you, and of the fact that now you belong to Him. He is able to make that very temptation a means of growth and strength as you gain victory over it.
God is waiting to prove Himself a God of deliverance, freedom and triumph. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [fleshly], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." 2 Cor. 10:4.