Repent! Repent! Repent!

NoviceBeliever · May 30, 2009, 07:03:19 AM

I have been sinful and continue to sin and sin and sin. Sins of heart, the mind, the flesh, SIN-SIN-SIN. Sleep has not come easy to me of late, so yesterday I tried to lay down in the afternoon and take a 20 minute power nap to get me through the rest of the day, but my mind would not quiet, all I kept hearing was REPENT! REPENT! REPENT! hundreds and hundreds of times! After no rest at all, I got up and started to read and I know God is calling me to start this process of repentance. NB

(Mat 3:2 KJV) And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

(Mat 4:17 KJV) From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

(Mar 1:15 KJV) And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

(Mar 6:12 KJV) And they went out, and preached that men should repent.

(Luk 13:3 KJV) I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

(Luk 13:5 KJV) I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

(Luk 16:30 KJV) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

(Luk 17:3 KJV) Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

(Luk 17:4 KJV) And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

(Act 2:38 KJV) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(Act 3:19 KJV) Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

(Act 8:22 KJV) Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

(Act 17:30 KJV) And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

(Act 26:20 KJV) But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

(2Co 7:8 KJV) For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

(Heb 7:21 KJV) (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

(Rev 2:5 KJV) Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

(Rev 2:16 KJV) Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

(Rev 2:21 KJV) And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

(Rev 2:22 KJV) Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

(Rev 3:3 KJV) Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

(Rev 3:19 KJV) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Marky Mark · May 30, 2009, 07:27:30 AM

QuoteSleep has not come easy to me of late,

aqrinc · May 30, 2009, 10:56:01 AM

Hi NB,

Here is Ray's paper that i think answers your questions and certainly was a great eye and ear opener for me. Yes Repentance is so important, that we really do not start moving from kicking and screaming until we start Repenting. I could write a lot more but Ray does it so much better in this paper.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3709.0.html

Excerpt from: Transcript of a talk by L. Ray Smith about Repentance

The reason that I want to talk about repentance is because repentance is a major door to understanding. I tried to understand many things before I truly repented.

Now, we repent in increments. You know, as children you repent. Your parents spank you, you repent! And you learn to do things, and you mature. If you want a good definition of maturity:

Maturity is a way to act that is more beneficial to yourself and others than a child would act.

So when you are old enough to know about repentance as a teaching of the Church, most of us have gone through some kind of a repentance. I went through a repentance and a baptism when I was about 24 I think. And I thought I had repented. I was baptized (immersed in water). From that day on I tried to do better because I knew I had done this public thing and I knew I hadn't done it just for the heck of it. And I probably made some progress in doing better and living better. You stop doing some bad things, you start doing some good things. And I thought, this is what the Christian life is all about. I'm on my way, I'm doing it.

Unitl one day, I didn't know when it happened, but looking back, I left my first love. And that does not necessarily mean your "first love" as in chronological order like first, second, third etc. It means your "paramount" love, your main love, the FIRST. What should be first in your life: Christ. I left that love, went back into the world, BIG TIME, and then just floundered around.

I never forgot there was a God. I never stopped praying. But I was carnal. You'd think that baptism and repentance was nothing! I mean, that wasn't doing anything for me. I was now in TOTAL carnality. Wine, women and song. And I tried to study the bible off and on throughout those years. I never put it away completely. It was always there and I was reading it and so on. But NOTHING...I mean, maybe I could learn some verses, maybe I learned a little about historical settings, some facts and so on, but spiritually I wasn't going ANYWHERE. I wasn't going anywhere...I made a concerted effort to have a good time. (As best I knew how with what little money I had and so on.) And there were a few times God even let me make a few dollars. I got into something once where I was making 40-50 thousand dollars a month and I thought, oh now I'm there! No...He took that away.

Anyway, I thought that was about the best you could do. Boy, I was so thankful for one thing though: GRACE. Boy was I glad that this bible talked about Grace because there was nobody who needed grace more than me! And I thought that I sort of understood it. I was pretty convinced that there are no spiritually converted people because number one, I made a "jolly good" try at it. I made a good stab at it. I gave it the good college try. And I wasn't converted. And you know what, I didn't know of anybody else who was converted either. I didn't know of one human being on this earth that I could say, "that person is spiritually converted". I didn't know of any, and I knew I wasn't, so I thought it didn't exist. I thought true spiritual conversion did not even exist. And that what Grace did: you did the best you could, and where you didn't do very good, it just filled in the gaps. And that was about as spiritual as my mind would go for a long time.

george

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daywalker · May 31, 2009, 10:53:00 PM

Hello NB,

I understand how you're feeling [as do the rest here in the forum]. We will all spend the rest of our earthly lives "repenting. repenting. repenting". To have the desire and the will to do good, and refuse the bad, but still we sin.. a lot. It's a very humbling process.

My favorite passage of Scripture is from Romans 7, where the Apostle Paul talks about his struggles with his carnal natural. I feel confident when saying that everyone of us knows this feeling:

Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

I took this from the English Standard Version, as it's my favorite for this particular passage. Learning to lean completely on God is a very hard process. Understanding that only He is able to take away your desires to sin, is very humbling, and that's what brings you back to Him as well. To COMFORT you, as He is our COMFORTER.

Well, I'll keep you in my prayers. May God grant you the strength and endurance to keep pressing forward.

Daywalker.

cherokee · June 01, 2009, 04:52:01 AM

Daywalker,

Thanks for posting Romans 7:18 & 19 from the English Standard Version. I was going to use that in another post but the translations I have on esword were not as plan. Will have to add it to my esword.

Suzie

daywalker · June 01, 2009, 08:59:07 AM

Quote from: cherokee on June 01, 2009, 04:52:01 AM
Daywalker,

Thanks for posting Romans 7:18 & 19 from the English Standard Version. I was going to use that in another post but the translations I have on esword were not as plan. Will have to add it to my esword.

Suzie

No problem

Roy Coates · June 01, 2009, 08:52:28 PM

I am praying for you brother. God is working in/on you. Peace

Repent! Repent! Repent!

NoviceBeliever

Marky Mark

aqrinc

daywalker

cherokee

daywalker

Roy Coates