Run with Perseverance
Before you opened this book, you may have wondered if God is still in the miracle business. The Bible tells stories of transformation, but does God perform healings of mind, body, and soul today?
The real-life stories shared in Just Give Me Jesus testify to the reality of transformation. You can’t deny that God still brings about a dramatic change in those who once pursued a homosexual life. I imagine most people, whatever their background, wonder if transformation is possible. The Bible gives an emphatic answer: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV).
With Jesus, all things are possible. There is always hope for a homosexual person, just as hope exists for every one of us. That hope is based on both God’s holiness and His love.
Because God is holy, He will rightfully judge all who have sinned against Him: “He will judge the world in righteousness; he will execute the judgment for the peoples with equity (Psalm 9:8 NASB). If God did not judge, He would be approving our sin and wrongdoing, which would be an unholy act. But God is also full of love. “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:8 NASB). He therefore waits patiently for us to turn to Him: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 NASB).
God wants us to repent. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30 NASB). Because of His great love for each of us, God desires that we know Him and that we know Jesus, His Son, who is God in flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 NIV). Jesus bore the weight of our sins on the cross “so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV). Jesus’ sacrifice made it possible for each of us to escape the righteous judgment of God.
When we repent of our sins, God asks us accept the gospel message of salvation: “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I [Paul] preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:2–4 NIV).
Like any sinner, a homosexual needs to repent, receive Christ by faith, and be saved from God’s righteous judgment. That’s the only path to true transformation.
Never underestimate the power of God, nor His love for you or your loved one. No matter where you are in your journey of transformation—as an LGBT-identified person or as a family member of a loved one immersed in that lifestyle—walk your days out full of faith in the God who loves you. When the Enemy tries to steal your faith or fill you with doubt, take heart and remain steadfast.
Sometimes we try to figure everything out. Instead, we should keep our eyes on the Savior who was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We can also be encouraged by those in heaven who made it through life with their faith intact—that “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. These victorious saints, from every era, watch us as if they were a crowd of fans in a stadium. I envision them wearing crowns of righteousness and waving palm branches as they cheer us on in our race.
Let’s not disappoint our Savior or our fellow saints. “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1 NIV).
Fight. Don’t surrender to the Enemy. God will keep you safe, and your faith will prevail. Cling to truth: Jesus won the victory over sin and death. We are overcomers. So keep running. Fix your eyes on Jesus and persevere (Hebrews 12:2). You can overcome hard times