Repentance August 8 , 2006

I have not written a blog in so long. Mostly because God has been working on me as I go through this thing we call sanctification and I have not had much to say. Instead...I've been listening. It's amazing what truths God will bring into our lives when we just listen and obey.

I wanted to share the Word God has given me for this period in my life (and prayerfully forever more)...repentance. God is calling me to repentance before I can follow His command to "Be holy as I am holy" 1 Peter 1:16.

It's funny how foolish we can be sometimes. We think we have all of the answers or we have figured out this Christian walk. We think there is some sort of formula we must follow and then God will love us more. The truth is our very souls are longing for more of God and that thirst cannot be quenched with busyness, gossip, judgment, or the secret sins we hold onto that no one else knows about.

God has delivered us out of Egypt and we are screaming with our actions that it was better for us in captivity. We have been freed by the blood of Christ to love more truly and fully, to obey a God who will never leave us or forsake us, to follow the plans He has that do not include harm and in fact prosper us, to have the Comforter with us to empower us and lead us to the wisdom we desire. Yet, we return to the vomit of the world we are warned NOT to conform to. Those seeking something real look at us and say "I see nothing different than what everyone else in the world is already doing".

Christians judge. Christians gossip. Christians hurt one another and spit in Jesus' blood daily with the way we treat one another, the way we treat the lost, and the way we treat His grace upon our lives. I know because I am one such Christian who has had to repent for all of the above and God has lavished such forgiveness and freedom upon me. My ministry is more effective. My skin is not thicker...it is more pliable and bounces back more quickly. I am free to love people regardless if they love me back or not. I don't hold on so tightly to situations only God can repair.

I will never have "arrived" until I get to heaven. Here on earth I will constantly be at odds with my flesh. But, I am victorious because of Him...nothing I have done. Isnt repentance one of the reasons David the adulterous murderer was a man after Gods own heart? Isnt repentance the reason God spared us so many times throughout history? Isnt repentance the reason Peter whom denied Christ and deserted Him became the rock on which Jesus built the church?

I have a friend who is really discouraged right now because of people who are acting "religious" in his life but not showing much love. These are people like you and I. Good Christians with good intentions who have somehow missed the mark and become judge and jury rather than follower of Christ Jesus. This is how I responded to him:

I confess, I was one of the religious. As I was indoctrinated into ministry I believed that chasing people down to show them righteousness was akin to caring for their souls. I believed it my personal responsibility to correct and guide and when the chased person failed...I took it personally. Like I wasnt good enough or I did not pray enough. I had a holier than though attitude. Everyone's life would have been better had they just listened to me and done what I suggested. Wow. Did God ever do a work in my heart recently? I have had to repent for my religious pharisaical views. My heart was so wrapped up in trying to "do" God. To look good. To show others the sins they committed against God...but my own heart was black with judgment, defeat, and hurt. Outwardly I did all that a "good Christian" should. I prayed for people, I prayed with people, I read the Word; I showed up to every event and planned everything. But gossip and judgment accompanied everything I did.

God used me where I was. People where healed. People found hope in Christ. But it wasnt about me doing it...His Spirit took precedence over my ignorance. Heck, He used Balaam's donkey did He not? I guess He wanted to use me even though I was being a...um...well...donkey. It wasnt until I submitted the control, the manipulation, the judgment, the gossip, and my own hurts that God moved. I also had to forgive those (and there were many) that taught me this was ok and those who helped me perpetuate this behavior. I also had to ask for their forgiveness.

All the glory goes to God because there is such a freedom in not having to be right. A freedom in just letting the Holy Spirit guide you. A freedom in loving the unlovable...even if they make wrong choices that destroy the ministry you have given to them. Our God is a God of second chances and He knows best how to win people to Him. We are just to be vessels of love with healthy boundaries. Loving means bringing words of correction...not flesh driven but Holy Spirit inspired. Love means not condemning or gossiping. Love means seeking God before acting and reacting.

If you have anything encouraging to add...we know that "iron sharpens iron" and we are here to encourage one another. So, if God has spoken anything to you that would encourage others struggling with repentance please comment.

May the Holy Spirit guide you into repentance today as He does daily with me. I want my heart to make God smile. May you seek the same today.

1 Samuel 15:23 (KJV) "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft..."

2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

Isaiah 59: 20 The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

Jeremiah 5:23 (NIV) But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away

Jeremiah 3:13 (NIV) "Only acknowledge your guilt--you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me," declares the Lord

Ezekiel 18:30 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.

Ezekiel 18:32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Matthew 21: 32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Luke 13:3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish

Luke 15: 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 17: 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Acts 3: 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Mark 1:15 - "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Mark 6:12 - They went out and preached that people should repent.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Matt 4: 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Acts 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.