I’ve had a radical spiritual awakening, and I am converted from an atheist to a firm believer in God and committed to following his word. My biggest temptation was always my attraction to the same sex.
I have had to cut off multiple people, including a romantic partner, and it has been excruciatingly painful. But I’m determined to get through this tough time and walk in Jesus’s light. Any advice on how I can get through these trying times?
Listen, I’ll be straightforward. What you are going through is not weird, and it is not for nothing. When God saves a man, He does not bargain with the flesh. He takes it over. “No man can serve two masters” Jesus said ~Matthew 6:24. You did not just switch doctrines. You switched loyalty. That type of change always produces pain because the old life does not die easy.
You broke relationships because light and darkness cannot inhabit the same house. The Bible already determined that. “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?” ~2 Corinthians 6:14. Obedience will often feel like loss at first, but it is rescue. God is not trying to make you miserable. He is extracting you from what would eventually kill you. Sin always accumulates interest, and the invoice always becomes due ~Romans 6:23.
Here is something you need to understand. Temptation showing up does not mean you are failing. It means the battle has started. Before Christ, there was no war because sin owned the building. Now the Spirit moved in, and the flesh is fighting eviction. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” ~Galatians 5:17. Do not mistake resistance for defeat. Resistance is evidence of life.
This is where many fall. They depart from sin and forget to exchange it with truth. Jesus overcame temptation by standing on Scripture, not feelings ~Matthew 4:4. Root yourself in the Word every day. Not casually. Intentionally. When desire shows up, do not wrestle it on your own. Pull it into the light by prayer. God said no temptation would come without an escape ~1 Corinthians 10:13. But you have to take the off-ramp when it presents.
Maintain this view distinct. God did not save you to clean up your past. He saved you to redirect your future. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” ~2 Corinthians 5:17. Walk forward, not backward. One obedient step at a time. You are not walking towards loss. You are walking towards liberty.
First of all congratulations on a huge first step. The first and most important thing as instructed is securing your salvation. Beleive in Jesus the son of God, have faith that he died on the cross and rose again to cleanse you of sin. Confess your sins to GOD and ask for forgiveness.
Find a decent church and dive into learning his word. I recommend starting in John.
Don’t think your sin or lusts is any worse than anyone else’s.
when Satan was trying to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus quoted Scripture to combat Satan. mediating and memorizing verses such as 2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” will help you.
However, only focusing on defeating the sin will remind you of it. so replace it with God honoring habits. applying the Bible to life, serving others, seeking fellowship.
Paul’s advice.
Paul begins with identity before effort, commanding the believer to reckon rightly, using logizomai (to count, to consider as true), because obedience collapses when identity is confused, “So also you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” ~Romans 6:11, a present imperative logic where you are commanded to treat as fact what God has already accomplished in the cross.
Flowing from reckoning comes refusal, a moral veto empowered by grace, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey its desires” ~Romans 6:12, where basileuetō (let reign) is forbidden, meaning desires may still shout but they no longer rule, because Christ rules through the Spirit.
Paul then commands decisive transfer of allegiance, “Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead” ~Romans 6:13, where paristanō (present) is an active offering of the body, sexuality included, to God as a living consequence of resurrection life.
The next imperative is separation of the old self, not by therapy but by crucifixion language, “But you did not learn Christ this way, if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, to put off, concerning the former manner of life, the old man” ~Ephesians 4:20 to 22, where apotithēmi (to put off) describes deliberate removal, like stripping off a contaminated garment nailed to the cross.
Paul never leaves the believer naked, because removal is followed by renewal, “And to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth” ~Ephesians 4:23 to 24, where enduō (to put on) is an imperative grounded in new creation reality purchased by Christ’s blood.
He applies this directly to desire driven patterns, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desire of the flesh” ~Galatians 5:16, where peripateite (walk) is a continuous command, meaning holiness is not a single victory but a Spirit directed trajectory sustained by daily dependence.
Paul acknowledges the pain of severed attachments yet reframes suffering as participation in Christ, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” ~Philippians 1:29, where suffering is not punishment but fellowship, a sharing in the costly obedience of the crucified Lord.
He instructs believers to starve the old patterns through decisive mortification, “Therefore put to death the members which are upon the earth” ~Colossians 3:5, where nekrōsate (put to death) is not suppression but execution, grounded in the fact that “you have died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God” ~Colossians 3:3.
Paul anchors endurance in future glory rather than present relief, “For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us” ~Romans 8:18, teaching the believer to interpret pain through resurrection hope rather than immediate emotional resolution.
He commands disciplined thought life because temptation often survives in imagination, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, think on these things” ~Philippians 4:8, where logizesthe again appears, commanding intentional mental recalibration toward holiness.
Paul insists that obedience flows from grace, not self hatred, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” ~Romans 6:14, meaning victory is not achieved by white knuckle resistance but by submission to the reign of Christ who bore sin in His body on the tree.
He closes the circle with perseverance rooted in divine faithfulness, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” ~Philippians 1:6, assuring the believer that the same grace that awakened faith will sustain costly obedience.
In Paul’s framework you survive this season not by denying pain but by interpreting it through the cross, not by trusting feelings but by obeying imperatives grounded in identity, and not by isolating yourself in struggle but by fixing your eyes on Jesus Christ, crucified for sinners, risen for justification, and powerful by His Spirit to carry you through obedience that hurts now but heals eternally.
Hope this is helpful.
J.
Hear HERE! Wonderfully put.
KP
Congrats, good luck to you in the journey ahead 
This is GREAT news @rogantano. Just do not think for a second it will be roses and lollipops. Sometimes people get the idea that once they accept Jesus, they then have a comfortable and free ride. Not true.
Look at all the disciples. They were all killed, save John, for their Faith in Jesus. Look at Paul.
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 2 Corinthans 11:24-27
Now that you are saved, the world, like those of your own life, will hate you. They hated our Lord first, to the point of murdering Him. Do not try to go this alone. However, understand this. You are not a child of God.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39
Welcome to the family @rogantano
Peter