Testimony~ Jesus Christ Saved Me From 27 Years of Homosexuality

Powerful Testimony of James Jennings

We have been so blessed by James Jennings and his ministry on I'll Be Honest for years now.  His honesty and openness is so precious and rare these days, and yet if we want true freedom we must be honest.  Honest with ourselves, honest with our parents or spouse and most importantly honest before God.   I hope you will be blessed and that God might continue to use Jame's testimony to help others come to know Christ as the only one that can save them from themselves and the sins that beset them.  We are more than conquers through Christ Jesus!  

Guest post by a dear brother and friend

 

Abide in Me......

Does it ever bug you when you hear a “professing christian” say, “I just asked Jesus to come in my heart and now I'm saved, or Johnny was an alcoholic but went he was three years old he asked Jesus to come in his heart so we know where he is.”?

I wanted to address some of these fallacies as they are on my mind. First off, getting saved is not “asking Jesus to come in your heart” trust me I know first hand.

Picture this.... little angelic me at age seven, did I mention that I would be classified as a fallen angel. Threatening my big sisters, who were picking on me, with a razor knife. Screaming like a banshee and then running away... well, at least to the edge of the yard. You know that evening, waiting for certain death in the laundry room from my father, feeling defiant rather than repentant, “getting saved” was the last thing on my mind.

Dad came in and started lecturing me and asking me why I kept doing evil things over and over and ended up leading me through the “sinners prayer”. My thoughts were, and I still remember them, were this is awesome!!! No spanking, Mom and Dad are happy and now I'm going to heaven.

I tell you that for seven more years I was just as lost and just as hell bound as before. I had no change, no desire for God, no compassion for others and thought only for myself. There is a lot more to my testimony but that is for another time. It took the death of another man before my eyes to awaken the hardened sinner inside.

Let me break it down, Jesus requires us to do four things. These things are only accomplished by the working of grace in our hearts, for as carnal men we are unable to do them. One, Repent. Two, Believe. Three, Confess. Four, Abide.

I expect that most who read this article will understand these things to be true having experienced them for themselves. I wish therefore to touch on the fourth. Jesus says, Abide in e, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” John 15:4

Drunk Johnny is in hell, no amount of lying from a man who calls himself a preacher will change that. Why? Abide in Me, and I in you.

The doctrine of eternal security is accepted across the reformed world of Christendom, but most only say, “Once saved always saved.” I would agree, however the true question is were they ever even saved? “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

Are you abiding in Christ? He says very clearly, Abide in Me and I in you. This is a two way street. Are you spending time with Jesus, in his word, in meditation, in prayer? Do you think that God is going to live in you honestly if you haven't allowed him to purge your heart as he did the temple? If you feed only your flesh? No, if you do not abide in Christ. If you do not follow him, he will not abide. “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

We cannot live without the vine Jesus and if we like Judas we grafted in but refuse the vine... If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. So as in Pilgrims Progress we see the young lad go to the very gates of the city riding across the river of death in the ferry called false hope let us be wary and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Thomas Smith

Thanks so much Thomas for sharing this part of your testimony and for allowing us to share it with our readers!  May God's richest blessings be upon you and your precious family.

Accepting the Grace and Forgiveness of Christ

By: Brittany Ann Alexander

Accepting the grace and forgiveness of Christ is a hard thing for some of us to grasp.  I for one have greatly struggled with this over the years.  After recently seeking to encourage a dear friend in this way, Mom asked me today to share how the Lord brought me to the point of being able to see more clearly why I was not willing to accept this precious gift and how He worked in me to finally be able to.  I pray it will be a blessing to those of you who read it.

The Lord brought me to the gracious point of salvation after many years of deep spiritual struggle.  But after that, I somewhat lapsed back into a few years of serious warfare.  God was definitely at work in my heart, but there was so much sin and self to be purged out, and I had some tough lessons to learn.

I was very discouraged by my continual falling back into old sinful habits.  I so did not want to be that person.  My tendency is to give in to the defeat of my failure.  Once, I had been extremely irresponsible and had fallen back into something yet again.  As a result of this sin, I was not going to have what we were suppose to have for dinner ready on time.  Mom had just recently given birth to one of my younger siblings, so some neighbors of ours had dropped in to see us and also brought a meal.  I refused to serve that for dinner, insisting on making something from scratch.  Why?  Because I felt that I had messed up so badly, I had to punish myself.  I knew I did not deserve the ‘night off’ from cooking that was provided.  No, that would have helped cover up my mistake, and I wouldn’t take any help.  This is something I had been characterized by my whole life.

The Lord used that particular circumstance to open my eyes to the truth.  I do fail.  I always will.  But I do not need to punish myself for it.  As a child of God, I have been forgiven and cleansed from my sin through Jesus Christ.  He has wiped my slate clean.  He took the punishment and guilt for me.  To deny His gift of grace and forgiveness is to deny the very cross work of Christ in my life.

I never deserved His grace in the first place.  As a now redeemed child of His, I still don’t deserve it.  But that’s not the point.  He gives it.  It is a gift intended to be paid for by Him.  But it takes humility to accept that grace, and the undeserved reconciliation and gifts that go along with it.  It is all there for us, if we will only accept.

Though I still struggle at times, the Lord has brought me to the point of being able to accept His wonderful gift through Jesus Christ.  I am beloved by God in Christ.  He has freely given me all things in Jesus.  There is indescribable joy and peace to be found here.  Praise the Lord for His wonderful mercy and grace.