Here is how Christians can deal with same-sex attraction

In her book, 'Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been,'Jackie Hill Perry offers major insights into sexual temptations.

As a former lesbian who is a now married to a man, she shares three important things every believer, especially newly born-again believers, need to know in order to effectively understand and overcome all sexual temptations including same-sex attraction.

They are:

Learn to differentiate your new identity from your temptation

According to Perry, believers need to know that they are not their temptations. Yes, you may face temptations which often come with feelings of shame but it does not change the fact that you are a new creature, whose identity is different from whatever you may be feeling.

In her words, "However, just because we are tempted does not mean that we are our temptations. We are what the cross has declared us to be: forgiven. Temptations may have a voice, but so does the Living God. The Scriptures - God-breathed and eternally profitable - have the final say on the identity of the saint. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here" (2 Cor. 5:17)."

Jackie Hill Perry offers major insights into sexual temptations in her book,'Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been' ece-auto-gen

ALSO READ: Why pastors need to stop preaching "heterosexual gospel" to gay people

Find a holy community

The thing with temptations is that they often make you feel like you are alone and that you are the only one dealing with whatever you are struggling with. Perry encourages Christians to ignore this feeling and embrace their community as this really helps in "the battle against sin, the devil, and the flesh."

She explains, "But you are not alone. Sanctification is as communal as communion. You are a part of a family, a body, an organism of human beings with different sins and the same Savior. Even if many Christians cannot understand the specific struggle of same-sex attraction, all Christians can understand the general struggle of sin.

"It is this body that God has made us all a part of in order to sanctify the saints, equip the saints for ministry, and reveal God in deeper ways to the saints. It was true then and is still true now that man was not meant to be alone. And by the grace of God, we are not and will never be."

Take on God's identity

While struggling with temptations, it can be easy to doubt and even forget your identity, which is rooted in God, your maker. Perry's advice is to take on the entire nature of the Heavenly Father.

"If God is the Creator, then we are created. If he is love, then we are loved. If he is omnipotent, then we are not as powerful as we think. If he is omniscient, then there is nowhere to hide. If he cannot lie, then his promises are all true, she explains."

Despite abandoning lesbianism after giving her life to Christ at age 19, Perry wants everyone to know that her marriage is not proof of her faith. She writes, "Preston and I were brought together not so that we could become the standard of what is to become of all gay girls and boys turned believers. We were brought together for the primary reason of pointing to the mystery of God's gospel." ece-auto-gen

She recommends having faith and using the Bible - God's Word - in order to really identify with God.

"Accordingly, our faith in the truths of God's character has the power to completely revolutionize how our lives are lived out. If God is bigger than we can imagine, we are wasting our time chasing after something or someone lesser than him. In the midst of our temptations, our trials, and our victories, we must place our ultimate identity, not in who we are, but in who we know God to be: our "all in all," Perry concludes.

Watch the video below to see the former 'gay girl with a good God' share her testimony.