Repentance is a word that often gets thrown around in Christian circles and at church on Sunday. But how many of us know how to actually repent within our hearts, practically? So, it’s important to understand conviction versus condemnation. Conviction is a godly sorrow about something you thought, you said, or you did, and it’s God inviting you into intimate relationship with God in that circumstance, and receiving His forgiveness, and also changing your way of thinking, which is what repentance means. Change your way of doing or thinking into the way that He thinks and does things and says things, versus condemnation, which is shame and guilt, and the Bible says, leads to death, and that’s it’s demonic, the Bible says.
And so it’s very important to understand that conviction draws you closer to God and it says you did something wrong, but you know what? I’m inviting you into this conversation where you can be cleansed of all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9, versus condemnation that says, You know what? You are something wrong. And it’s trying to attack your identity and your value based on what you did and not on what Jesus did for you. So it’s very important.
So just a quick three step process that you can do, is you get something you need to repent on. Lord, I repent and I agree with you that I’m going to change my way of thinking, saying, and doing on this matter. And then the second step, you would just say, “God, I’m receiving your forgiveness. I’m receiving your repentance, I’m receiving your mind.” So just receive from the Lord in that second step. And then the third step, what you’re going to do is you’re just going to release a blessing over yourself and release a blessing in that situation.
If you were trying to repent, I remember I was trying to stop cussing for a number of years and I tried to pushups, I tried all these different things, but when I started working in this three step process, I would just say, “God, I thank you that you’re changing my mind and you’re helping me to stop cussing and I’m just releasing over my mouth, I’m releasing purity and righteousness.” And I would repent. And in that third step, I would say, “Lord, I thank you that the meditation of my heart and the words out of my mouth would be acceptable in your sight, my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer,” which is in the Book of Psalms. And I would repeat that over and over and over again. And I tell you, the cussing literally was ceased in my life. Now there’s an occasional slip up once or twice a year. No one’s perfect. And I give myself grace and even repent for that in that situation. But it helped change my heart. And repentance is about changing your heart and your mind to think like God thinks, speak like God speaks, and act like the Lord acts.
So I just want to pray over you. Jesus, I thank you for a clean repentance of the Holy Spirit, that your kindness, God is what leads people to repentance. And I just want to encourage you guys, live a lifestyle of repentance before the Lord. Don’t be hard-hearted, but be soft-hearted towards God, that He loves you so much. I always want you to remember that Jesus loves you. He cares. Have a great and amazing day.