By Sidharth Mohandas 

Introduction

Justin has very clearly presented to you the truth that repentance is not bound by feelings. In other words, you and I can have tears running down our cheeks and still not be repentant. In this post I’d like to take you a step forward into seeing repentance as a way of life.

A Place of Agreement

Abba has called us to a walk of transparency with Him. We can’t walk in darkness and claim to have fellowship with Him. Therefore, Abba always waits for us to come to the point of truth. Scripture says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [1 John 1:9]. The Greek word for “confess” here simply means “to say the same thing as another” or “to agree with”. We must reach a place where we come in complete agreement with Him as to what He calls sin as. “But isn’t he more wrong than I am!”… Without coming to this fundamental place of agreement, no man can proceed into the things of God.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)

Repentance to Faith 

Jesus came saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel” [Mark 1:14-15].

Of course, this was a call for the people to turn to the living God from their sinful lifestyle, but much more than just that, Jesus was saying, “Change your mind-set and your mentality, folks! Be kingdom-minded!”

We need to change our mentality as to how the kingdom of God functions and the changes its reign will bring about in our lives. We can’t live this new life we have in Him with the old mind-set.

Scripture instructs us in Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Living in a world like ours exposes us to much information coming to us through various sources like the TV, newspaper, class lectures, friends, internet, songs and so forth. And it is very likely that our minds can get affected by these. It is even possible that these can change our attitude towards the things of God. This is the very reason why repentance or renewal of the mind must be a way of life.

But how do we practically do this? It is by maintaining an attitude of hope that God’s Word has to offer us.  

We must put on….hope of salvation as a helmet [1 Thess 5:8].

Without hope, it is absolutely impossible to have faith, for faith is the assurance of things hoped for [Heb 11:1]. This involves training our minds to see things from an eternal perspective.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [Colossians 3:2]

The Bible instructs us to turn our attention from that which is natural to that which is spiritual, from that which is visible to the invisible. In other words, God’s call of repentance is a call to move from the realm of the senses to the realm of faith...

We walk by faith, not by sight. [2 Cor 5:7].

Bill Johnson writes in his book: “Faith is founded on the superior reality of that which is invisible. Unbelief is founded on the inferior reality of that which is visible.”

In the upcoming posts iM members Titto and Nathan will be taking you into this Kingdom life called faith. Be blessed! 

By Justin Jordan

In Romans 2:4, we are told that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Does that mean that God is not being kind to those who don’t repent? Absolutely not!

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath…” [Romans 2:5]

From this verse, you can see that it is our stubbornness and our own unrepentant heart that keeps us from repenting. A friend of a friend was recently struggling with smoking. He would cry out before God to remove his habit, and each time he’d end up smoking. Finally, God revealed his attitude about it. He realized that whenever he cried out to God and “thought” he was being repentant, he was really thinking in his mind, “I’m gonna smoke next time.” That day he made a strong decision not to smoke, and he hasn’t smoked ever since. Stubbornness is a lack of yielding to God, and it comes from a heart that doesn’t want to change. It is true that God leads us to repentance, but we have to decide whether or not we are actually going to change. 

If we go on to Romans 2:8, Paul says,“but for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Basically, when you are chasing your own will, instead of God’s, your heart will begin to harden. When one is focused on their own agenda, and they are following evil, it is unlikely that they are going to repent any time soon. Like I said, it’s a choice that you have to make. Are you doing something wrong? Have you been convicted? Then it is up to you to stop doing it!

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” [Hosea 4:6]

Another obstacle that keeps people from repenting is not knowing what repentance is or isn’t. As I’ve discussed in the article prior to this one, repentance isn’t feeling bad about what you’ve done. Unfortunately, there are many in the Body of Christ that don’t understand this. They think repentance is something else when it is really just a decision that we can make because of the Lord’s kindness. If there isn’t a foundation of repentance in the church, then we basically have a church full of people doing whatever they want, and constantly feeling guilty about their wickedness. Sadly, this is actually the way a lot of churches are behaving in these last days. 

Repentance is the first step that we take before we are saved, but it doesn’t end with our salvation. We all have areas where we have not yielded to the Lord. This may be one reason why we are told in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.” 

In the next post, Sidharth will be writing about living a lifestyle of repentance.  

By Justin Jordan

In his last post, Sidharth did an excellent job of defining the simple definition of the word “repentance”. He also pointed out that, “repentance is the first and foremost response the Gospel of the Kingdom demands from an individual.” It is no surprise that this foundational requirement has been dramatically distorted in these last days. Many have confused remorse with repentance, and they have deceived themselves into thinking that just because they feel bad about what they have done; they have fulfilled God’s will.

According to dictionary.com the definition of remorse is this:

1. Deep and painful regret for wrongdoing; compunction.

There is nothing in this definition that would imply there was a change of direction in one’s life. While repentance may happen as a result of remorse; remorse alone is not the fulfillment of God’s command. Also, the need to repent is not dependent on feelings of remorse. You don’t have to wait for things like regret and guilt to change your life’s direction! By aligning your life with the Word of God, you will be in His will.

I remember an instance where I was reading the Bible and I came across a scripture that had to do with gossiping. I had been guilty of this sin, but I never felt bad about it. While reading, I recalled some scenarios where I had been gossiping, and I realized that it was time to make a change. It had nothing to do with my feelings, but rather my willingness to be obedient to the Word of God.

Remorse doesn’t guarantee repentance. This is clear in the case of Esau:

“Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.” Hebrews 12:17 (NIV)

The Amplified Bible clarifies it more:

“for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears.”

As you may remember, Esau had given up his birthright for a single meal. Afterwards he deeply regretted his mistake, but all the remorse in the world couldn’t change what he had already done!

I recall another night when I experienced true repentance. In this night, I had been burdened with the credit card debt that I had incurred. There were times before this night that I regretted my careless spending, but this time something was different. God had shown me a few scriptures that outlined how I was to be a good steward of the money that He had blessed me with. After seeing His Word and knowing that I had disobeyed Him, I didn’t just regret what I had done, but I knew that I had to change from that night on. To not change, would be outright disobedience!

It is important to take note of how it was God who led me to this repentance. It wasn’t something that I could find on my own because my guilt was selfish. I needed to be shown that my actions were offending Someone much higher than me!

In Romans 2:4 we are told that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. In my next post, I will be discussing what keeps people from truly repenting, and why this error has formed a Church that is sick and dying.