
How to Repent
Maybe you’re resilient. You fall and dust yourself off like nothing ever happened. Maybe you’re the type who falls down, hops back up, and decides to try again. But for others, it’s not so simple. Falling hits hard. For those of us who have committed sin after knowing what it means to live a clean life in Jesus Christ, falling into sin feels like failure. You need the help of God and sometimes the help of people who are godly, to really get back up.
Falling into sin after walking in a holy life with God is like getting dressed in your best outfit. Imagine wearing an all-white outfit or something fancy and expensive. You look your very best and feel confident. Most of us wouldn’t take such an opportunity to play in the mud while it rains. While some may argue how much fun they had playing and living in the moment, the fact remains that everyone walks away dirty. When the moment ends, you need to be cleaned. You don’t want to stay dirty.
The pleasures of sin are for a season (Hebrews 11:25). Sin often brings pleasure, but it is temporary. It makes us dirty. At some point, you get tired of temporary pleasures. Perhaps you start to realize that life is bigger than the moment. Perhaps you recognize that the pleasures sin brings aren’t fulfilling. Maybe sin is fun for a moment, but the weight on your mind afterward becomes heavier. Or, for those who have fallen from God, perhaps you start remembering what you had.
Do you remember why you love God?
The memory of knowing God is hard to shake. You never feel cleaner than when your sins are washed away in baptism. The Bible says that baptism is the “answer of a good conscience” toward God (1 Peter 3:21). You’re not just clean on the outside; you are clean and separated from your past mistakes in your own conscience. You are guiltless before God. That clean feeling and connection to God intensify when you have His Spirit inside you. When you experience the infilling of the Holy Ghost, like they did on the day of Pentecost, His presence overwhelms you and tames the part of the body no man can tame—your tongue (James 3:8). You develop a language shared only between you and God. The love and connection of having such a direct line of communication to God via your prayer language, is unparalleled.
For those who have had these experiences with God, returning to sin isn’t a quick thing. Backsliding, or going back, is a process. It’s a drifting back to a mindset or actions that were left behind when you desired closeness with God. Sometimes it starts simply: a conversation with an old friend God told you to leave alone, listening to a song that brings back memories of a past you should abandon, or skipping a few prayer times or church services when you once prioritized those moments with God.
“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” (Revelation 2:5).
Remembering where you have fallen from is important because it triggers sorrow, which helps you find repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance causes you to not only hate the sin but also to identify and turn away from what caused you to look back before you went back. It is a change of mind and direction. This means letting God’s Word and will shape the way you think, as well as allowing Him to guide your actions and the direction of your life.
Power of Prayer & Support
One of the most powerful testimonies I’ve heard illustrates this process better than I can. You can watch it here on Facebook. It tells the story of one woman’s backsliding and restoration, providing a firsthand account of the tragic circumstances surrounding her return to God.
After you have repented, forgiving yourself is an act of faith. It means believing that God has not changed His mind about you. Sometimes it’s easier to believe for others, but Jesus didn’t die on the cross to forgive everyone except you. Does He have to forgive you? No. Are there instances where God judges? Yes, He can assign consequences or choose not to forgive. However, we cannot make those decisions for Him. We appeal to His nature. The nature of God is to be “ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Nehemiah 9:17). His love and great mercy remind us to avoid continuing in sin after He forgives us.
Remember. Repent. Forgive yourself. If you need help with any of these, find someone who can help support you going in the right direction. If you need help finding a church or group to support your spiritual journey, inbox us. We want to help you.
Need more on how to trigger your memory? Check out this PRESS Movement podcast, entitled Remember!
Comments