In the Bible it says that we can overcome just like Jesus overcame.
That is an incredible statement. Is that really possible?
More than forgiveness
What is victory over sin?
I would say victory over sin is to overcome myself.
Overcome lusts and desires that are within my own body.
Victory over sin, that is when I am tempted,
Instead of yielding to the temptation, or following the temptation, I get grace to be able to say "no".
And instead follow God's Spirit and God's Word.
How was it for you before you came to victory?
It really bothered me. I thought that once I give my heart to Jesus and really became a Christian,
Suddenly my life would change.
I'd really be able to be a real Christian.
But I found out it wasn't so easy. I found out that I was impatient
And envious and anxious. That really bothered me. I really had hope for something more than that.
I was having a great time.
And there was a lot of things I were looking up to, and I was thinking were great and were something.
In the middle of all that, one day it started to work in me that this is emptiness.
It wasn't giving me anything.
Before it gave me alot, it was really interesting, then suddenly one day it was like the air went out of the balloon.
I started getting thoughts: Ok, so what. You get what you want in this world. What about the future?
What about eternity? Even if you get everything you want.
Someday you will have to go from it, someday you will have to leave it.
I was not satisfied by how I was in my daily situations,
How I behaved, what I thought
The Spirit started to make what I saw of myself exceedingly sinful for me.
It became a sickness that I had to be set free from.
And there was no other solution for me than to come to believe in the Word of God.
As human beings we are really pathetic. What is required to come to a life of victory over sin?
You can't really get victory over something that you are not sick 'n tired of.
It is not possible.
It's got to be someone, or something I should say, that is an enemy for you. You are so sick of. It is plaguing you.
I think you just need to be someone who isn't satisfied with how they are
How they react. How you see that the way you are doesn't have a good effect on people.
When you have come to the point where you're tired of sin and yourself, what do you do then?
I started reading what other men and women had done in their own life.
And I came to faith in what was written in the gospel.
Jesus says there is no man that can follow me, unless he denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows me.
He says that actually it is not possible.
When you received this faith, what kind of decision did you make for your personal life?
For me, when that faith came, I decided that from now on there is war in my life.
The moment faith came, then war started in my life.
I said to everybody: from now on I'm going to fight with all of my heart
I'm going to go against everything I understand is wrong in my life.
For me, that was an immediate reaction.
Faith started something completely new. It started a war against sin and against myself.
More than forgiveness