Repentance of Sin & Drawing Near to Jesus
 
I have been feeling strongly from the Lord a spiritual shift taking place right now. I have felt the Lord speaking to me about the necessity of repenting of our sins and drawing near to Jesus. I started to write this one night and the next day two well known ministers preached this very thing,  We heard Pastor Jentzen Franklin on tv and we heard Pastor John Kilpatrick live on the internet and they both preached about the importance of repenting our sins. I found this to be a confirmation from the Lord that the Lord is speaking about this right now. I feel like the message of repentance is not always preached in certain circles of churches or ministries possibly because it sounds harsh and it may have been preached in the past in such a way that may sound condemning or judgmental. What I feel the Lord is showing me right now is that we must have an understanding of the love, forgiveness, mercy and grace of God, but not overlook the fact that God has spoken to us in His word that we need to repent of our sins as well. The Lord has been higlighting to me several scriptures where Jesus, Paul and John tell us to repent of our sins. John tells us in 1 John 1:7-10, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” Another good scripture the Lord has been speaking to me through is in ‭‭1 John‬ ‭2:1-3‬ where it says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” I want to point out that these scriptures I just mentioned and many I will mention are in the New Testament and are under the new covenant for those who only feel the New Testament scriptures under the new covenant apply to believers in Jesus.
Paul tells us the necessity of repenting of our sins in Acts 20:21 he says, “I have had one message for Jews and Gentiles alike, the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.” Paul also says in Acts 17:30, “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him.”
 
I want to point out that there is a difference between conviction and condemnation. What I feel when I sin is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, not condemnation. There is a major difference between the two. One thing I have learned from experience is that when I feel condemnation it is from the enemy and not God. God uses the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to us when we sin and that does not feel like condemnation, but rather an awareness of whatever the sin is it is not good for us and God wants to free us from that. When we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit it feels like God’s correction from a place of love, it is not condeming or shaming. In Romans 2:4 it tells us that “…God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” So we know from that scripture in Romans that God leads us to repentance through His kindness, not condemnation. The devil is the one who condemns us of our sins, the devil makes us feel guilt, shame, condemnation, depression, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, worry and more. With God when we feel conviction there is hope, a solution and transformation through the repentance of our sins and drawing near to God. God transforms us in His Presence and through His love for us. The more time we spend with God in prayer, worship, reading the Word of God and just enjoying His Presence the more we encounter God and begin to feel God’s heart and desire to be more like Him. Our desire should be to have the heart and mind of Christ so we can be more like Him so that we will not desire sin, but desire to be like God.
Thankfully God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross and to raise again to be the atonement for our sins and it is only the blood of Jesus that atones our sins. It is so wonderful that we do not have to feel condemned in our sins, it is so amazing that Jesus forgives us our sins. 1 Peter‬ ‭1:18-22 tells us, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.” In 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:21 it tells us, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” So Jesus is the answer to our sins, He is our Savior and deliverer from our sins and the consequences of sin.
 
Here are some of the things Jesus tells us about sin and the need to repent. Jesus tells us in Luke 5:32, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” That is why Jesus is called our Savior, Jesus has saved us from our sins through our acceptance of Him, He saved us from the consequence of our sins which is hell. In Matthew 4:17 it says, “From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” I love this next scripture where Jesus tells us in Luke 15:10, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” God desires us to repent of our sins and give our lives completely to Him.
 
I believe just as a parent does not want to see their children harm themselves and wants to protect them from things like being addicted to bad drugs or committing bad crimes or any other thing that could cause harm to their children, our Father God is the same way. Father God sees us, His children and He does not want us to harm ourselves and He wants to protect us. Father God wants us to try to avoid doing harmful sinful things because He loves us and wants to protect us and He sees the devil is the one who wants to tempt us to sin and try to destroy us. Remember the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy and the devil is the one who tempts us to sin, God does not tempt us to sin.
 
By: Holly Rotalsky
Wings of Fire International
www.wingsoffire.org
 
Below are Scriptures on Repentance of Sin:
 
Luke 24:47, “…There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”
 
Mark‬ ‭6:12‬ “So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God.”
 
Acts 2:38‬ “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
 
Acts‬ ‭5:30-31‬ “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven.” ‭‭
 
2 Peter‬ ‭3:9 “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”‬
 
Mark 1:15 “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
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Matthew 18:3 “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
 
Matthew 11:20 “Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God.”
 
Matthew 18:15 Jesus says, “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.”
 
Galatians 5:16-17 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
 
Galatians‬ ‭6:1-2, 8‬ “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”
 
1 John‬ ‭3:4‬ “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” At first that verse was confusing to me because of what I was reading in other passages of scripture which tell us if we say we do not sin then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but what I take from that verse and the others that John has written is that God does not want us to sin and we have been born of God and we are not supposed to keep sinning if we are born of God.
 
Luke 17:3-4, “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
 
2 Corinthians‬ ‭7:10‬ “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”
 
Galatians‬ ‭5:13 “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” ‭‭‬
 
Galatians‬ ‭5:19-23‬ “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” ‭‭