Paul prefaces his message of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” by first exhorting believers to “not be conformed to this world.” So resisting the devil and fleeing from temptation is a critical first step forward, no matter how many times we might fail in it.(James 4:7)

Admittedly this isn’t an easy thing to do, but one clear-cut benefit of failure is that disgust over it helps prod us toward the goal. And although we’ll probably never be perfect in resisting sin, we can’t let that keep us from trying. God is here to help, and things will get better each time we make the right choice.(1 Corinthians 10:13)

We must never allow sin to become an excuse for retreating from our pursuit of God. Let your sin drive you to God rather than away from Him. Believe me, He knows and understands you. And He’s more than willing to work with a repentant heart.(Psalm 103:12-14)

The devil does his best to deceive us into believing that we can’t come back to God until we’ve cleaned up our act. But we need to remember that the cross has stripped Satan of any actual power over our life.(Colossians 2:15) Ultimately, the devil only has the influence we allow him to have. He has no power to keep us from God, and we must never allow him to fool us into thinking that our sin somehow puts up a barrier between Him and us.