Blog Archives - Covenant Kept

So what is this repentance thing anyway?

10/26/2014

" LORD, I bow before you on bended knee, in humble reverence
I give to you my broken spirit and contrite heart
I repent of all my worldly sins and surrender to your total will for my life
And for the glory of your Kingdom
By your sovereign gift of grace and mercy my sinful heart is washed clean."
TGarafola

Acts 2:38 NIV … "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV…you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

If you’ve every heard a pastor or faithful follower of God speak, you might have heard them talk about repentance. It’s easy enough to Google, but what exactly do people mean when they tell you that you need to repent and most importantly, what does God ask of you?

Repentance is just the act of acknowledging our wrongs and asking for clemency. Whether it’s asking for forgiveness for hurting a family member or asking for tolerance for being late to work, everyone repents for something sometime throughout his or her life.

What’s different about repentance when it comes to God? The Lord laid down the law early in mankind’s existence. Because human beings are completely fallible and we tend to want to do things our own way, especially when it comes to the laws of God, we sin.

Even the most well versed, faithful believer needs to repent for his or her choices. It's especially so when we first come to the Lord because it’s all about acknowledging to God that we’ve sinned against Him. We're also asking for His forgiveness and love.

How do we know that God demands us to repent? It’s written in the scriptures, many times. The Lord commands us to acknowledge our sins, ask for His forgiveness and then sin no more. Remember, God has loved the human race since our first days and even now, he still loves us. God has never wanted any of us to perish, which is why He offers us His grace. It is by that grace, His forgiveness, that our eternal souls are saved.

Many of us fall away because we make the choice not to believe. We are thinking, feeling, free willed beings that ponder the reality of God and any ‘religion’ that demands you to believe without question, should make you question why you're following that ‘religion’. He made us this way because God doesn’t want puppets. He doesn't want blind submission, He wants us to learn and grow.

The past is just that, the past. What is important is that we do return to Him and accept His Son, the Christ Jesus. Understand, Christ was not a prophet or a mad man. He is the Son of God and He will return to cleanse this world of its wickedness.

Acts 17:30-31 NIV “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but
now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a
day when He will judge the world with justice…”

Quite frankly, I think the reason why the word repentance is such a turn off to so many people is because it forces us to admit and accept that we error and sin just as much as the next person. Honestly, it’s not easy to believe in a being that we don’t see with our own eyes and we can’t define by man-made science. It's simple to discard the fact that God is real because He forces us to defy our self-serving nature and beliefs.

There are a lot of bad people in this world and many bad things happen to the good people in it. There are many who do atrocities and call it out in Gods name but that is not the nature of our God. These days and the many to come will test our faith. As believers in God and Christ Jesus, we must continue spreading the word of God and helping others come to the truth.

We all must continue to repent for our sins and seek forgiveness everyday. We should all try to live a righteous life and continue to grow in our faith.

Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a respectful reply or comment.

If you haven’t accepted Christ as your Savior, today is a good day to do it. Pray your own prayer or pray …

“My God, thank you for loving me even though I am a sinner. Thank you for your Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for those sins. I can build a relationship with you because of His sacrifice. I repent for my sins; I seek your forgiveness and your everlasting love. I pray now that you accept me and take me into your loving arms. I am your child Lord, guide me and help me grow. I entrust my life in your capable hands and look forward to the day that I sit beside you in heaven. In your mighty name I pray, amen.”

The joy in the faith

10/18/2014

“Jesus” Your very name brings joy to my heart
Giving my very existence purpose
You bless me with everything that is good and wonderful
with daily strength, and everlasting joys."
T. Garafola

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord Rises upon you.”

If you don’t believe in the Lord, you may question how we can know for sure that God is real. There are far too many age-old arguments about the bible to go into but I will say this… we can feel it. Sounds crazy, right?

When you finally give your heart over to God you can feel it. The day I accepted Christ in my life I had this overwhelming peace and joy come over me. It is something hard to explain, but excitement does overcome you.

That excitement makes you hungry for more. It makes you hungry for knowledge. You become compelled to learn more, to understand more. And baptism, wow! When you come out of the water, most of the time, people just can’t stop smiling.

You feel strength in your spirit. It’s the security in knowing that Christ is behind you, He is in front of you, He is beside you, and He walks with you everyday. Remember, God promised we would never walk alone once we’ve chosen to follow him.

His blessings are everywhere around us, even in the little things. The glory of the Lord is everywhere, even in the worse times in life. No matter what the world will take from us, even when it’s our very lives, we will still have the truth. And many challenges will cross our paths, its inevitable. Those challenges will make us question our faith, they may even make us doubt the existence in God, but it is those times when Christ is the closest to us.

God is real, He loves us and He can heal our broken hearts if we fully surrender to Him. If you haven’t chosen yet, there’s no time like now. All you have to is ask Christ to come into your life. He’s waiting for you.

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”