112. REPENTANCE BRINGS BLESSINGS. Romans 2:4.

When you find yourself on the wrong side, re repentance (Saying Sorry) allows you to make a U-turn and head back in the right direction. And that’s a real Blessing. Now, saying sorry or repenting to God doesn’t increase His desire to be with you: It just increases your capacity to be with Him. Sometimes we think we need to repent because God is angry with us, and He needs time to “cool off”. Or we think of repenting as a way of punishing ourselves so that, perhaps God will be less severe with us. This sort of thinking is not true; or valid In God’s eyes. Because, that’s not repentance, it’s low self esteem, and low self esteem causes you to believe that you have so little worth or value that your response doesn’t matter. With real sorrow or repentance for what you have done however, you will understand that because you are valued and worth so much to God your response to Him means a great deal and is therefore very important to Him, Paul says in the above scripture, “God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.” When you truly love God, your greatest concern should NOT be whether God will punish, hurt or stop loving you, but that your actions, verbals and behaviour may have hurt Him. That’s why your response is important. When David murdered Uriah after he had slept with his wife, he, went a whole year without repenting. During that time he had to force his mind not to think about what he had done. What a miserable year that must have been for him. That’s what “not repenting” does, it hangs around in your mind (Guilt) until it’s dealt with. In the end even Israel’s King couldn’t cope with his own guilt; not because of the sins or crimes themselves (which were bad enough) but because David knew he could not approach his God with a guilty conscience. It was that which kept him away from his God, and it’s the same guilt that will keep you and me away from our God as well, What he, David, couldn’t cope with You and I can’t either. If we truly love God...There is no sin, shame, disgrace or anything else we may encounter that we can’t talk to God about. And receive not only a sympathetic ear and forgiveness but also a solution to the problem. Almighty God cannot tolerate or acknowledge an unrepentant heart. So if you feel you are having trouble hearing from God, or making contact with Him, and you truly want to renew or resume your relationship with Him, come to the open arms of the Saviour like David did, ask Him to show you where you went wrong, and when He does, approach God with a repentant and sorrowful heart. David cried to God “My sin is always before me” and then with this prayer from (Psalm 51:3) he prayed “Cleanse me with Hyssop then I will be clean; Wash me and I will be whiter than snow…. Create in me a pure heart… Oh God...Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:7,10-12). As a result, God forgave Him, wiping his slate clean. And David went on to be Israel’s greatest King. You see, repentance isn’t for God’s benefit No! On the contrary, we need Him. it’s for yours and mine. God doesn’t need us, He just wants to love us with an everlasting love. So the contrary applies, we need Him: And so desperately that we cannot continue to live a Spirit-filled life without Him. Therefore, He is looking for repentant people to love Him. Understand this:- It is impossible to love God fully without a regular examination and reassessment of one’s conscience. Beware, Satan is always ready, willing and able to pounce, He hates “Repentant Christians”. But God’s Holy Spirit will, (If we allow Him to) take us along that long sometimes difficult road through a lifetime of full repentance to that place where we hold absolutely nothing back from Our God, and our lives can be an open book before Him. A Christian once wrote; Sometimes, people are afraid that if they don’t change fast enough, God will get impatient with them. They may not personally use those words, but, their wondering thoughts go like this, How many sins do I have to commit before I have to start worrying about them? Is there a level of sin that is acceptable for a Christian? And if you go beyond it your in danger? - eg. is there a limit to impurity, just as there is an expiry date on the food and drug administration? Is the standard high like it is for Homogenised milk or is it like the standard of purity required for hamburgers with lots of room for junk stuff? Is it possible for a Christian to just never grow and still be one?.. The issue is not whether God will get tired of forgiving our sins, His forgiving is always the right response to sincere repentance. God is not worried that He might be taken advantage of. The danger isn’t that God won’t respond to honest repentance. The danger is that we might become so trapped in the dangerous thoughts sin inevitably produces that we become callus, complacent and simply unable to repent it’s because of this that ALL sin must be dealt with and taken seriously. Also sin is sin, there is no small, medium or large sizes. It’s our consciousness or awareness of sin that God is concerned with and how long we take to recognise and deal with it. That is what shows God just how seriously we value our relationship with Him. Some of you will remember the Julie Andrews song from “My fair Lady” “If your In Love Show\Me”. We have to show God and the rest of the world, just how much we truly Love Him. And Repentance is our first step. The next steps come almost automatically and are much easier. If you were invited to a Royal Garden party at the Palace, How small a stain would you permit on your dress or jacket. Would it concern the Royal personage? I don’t think so, But I’m sure it would ruin your entire afternoon!! Missionary Frank Laubach preached the gospel to a tribe that had a long history of bloodshed. The chief was so moved, he repented and accepted Christ on the spot then he turned to Laubach in appreciation and said “That was wonderful Now, who do you want me to kill for you today?” That was his starting point. Only God knows what everyone’s beginning will be. What’s yours? Make a start. Thank you for reading these few words on repentance. Yes, it takes Courage, time and Humility; all are absolutely necessary when approaching the throne-room of God for forgiveness. Without a repentant heart. Forgiveness can’t flow, and without forgiveness neither can true love. And the apostle John tells us, without love we cannot please God. So, the best way to practise repentance is to use it with our family, friends, neighbours and workmates. The more we use these abilities, the easier it becomes. I know this from personal experience. ‘Nothing is impossible with God ’. God bless, Phaline. ----------------------------