This message of repentance almost seems lost in this day and age.  The Church is being pressured to accept things and compromise our beliefs in order to appease the masses.  I for one, cannot compromise what the Word tells me because I have committed to what it has to say.  This is the heart of repentance and we need a fresh revelation of what it really means to repent.

Let’s start with the word “repent” itself.  Nowadays, when someone talks of repenting, the main idea that seems to be conjured up in the minds of Christians is the confession of sins and asking for forgiveness.  This, however, is not the “heart” of repentance.  It is almost as if we have reduced the meaning of repentance to saying, “I’m sorry!”  That isn’t really repenting, though.  The word translated “repent” in the New Testament is the Greek word “metanoeo or metanoia” and this word literally translated means, “a change of mind, or to have another mind”.  This is a far ways off from the confession of sins.  Yes, confession of sins is involved, but it doesn’t just stop there.  You see, true repentance isn’t just turning from something, but it is also turning to something.  If we leave repenting at just confession then all we do is turn away from whatever sin we are dealing with; we have to turn towards Jesus and what the Word tells us concerning any issue.

The Lord recently spoke to my mind and heart concerning this and I have been meditating on it ever since.  The entire Gospel, the “good news” of Jesus is to be a complete changing of our mindset.  Our thoughts and ideas were going one way, but now because of Christ, we are to think completely differently.  We were going to hell, but now if we live in Him, we are heaven bound.  Our righteousness was as filthy rags, but now we are made the righteousness of God.  We were sick and broken; now by His stripes we were/are healed.  Can you see how each one of these isn’t just going away from something, but it is going to a destination?  When we repent we turn our mind from the way things used to be and now direct our mind to how things really are in Christ.

Just yesterday, at the time I am writing this, someone at work asked me about some good churches in our area.  She had mentioned that she and her husband were trying to have a baby.  She didn’t really attend church anymore like she used to, but she wants to raise her child in church.  There was a lot there that I could discuss with her, but then she added a little requirement in what kind of church she wanted.  She said that she didn’t want a church that was judgmental and also added, “You know, one of those churches that teaches that some people, especially Christians, are better than others.  I don’t want my kid thinking that there is anything wrong with others, you know, like gay people or people from other religions.”  I really didn’t know what to say at first, so I looked inward and asked the Holy Spirit to tell me what to say.  If you don’t do that already, start there.  The Holy Spirit will help you direct your mind and stop you from just reacting.  The reaction my flesh had was, “Oh really?!?!  We are judgmental?  We think we are better than others, well let me tell you…”  Instead, I checked within my spirit and told her, “You know, I just don’t know of any in the area, but if you ever want to go to church with me, you are more than welcome.”  This actually led to a conversation with two people about religion.  Now we all now the saying, “There are two things you don’t discuss, religion and politics”, but this shouldn’t be that case for believers, well maybe about politics.  We are supposed to be able to share our faith at any time and be gracious with people when they share differing beliefs.  This conversation covered several hot topic issues like: all roads lead to Heaven, homosexuality, is sin even real.  All of which the two I was talking with were very passionate about.  I am as well, but I refuse to let myself get irrational, irritable, or even flustered when someone tells me flat out…”your beliefs are wrong”.  I don’t let any of that get to me because I rely on the Word to tell me how to think.

I can say emphatically that homosexuality is a sin, according to the Word, and that forms my personal opinion on the matter, just like it does with lying.  It is important to point out here that sin by itself does not make any person necessarily evil, living apart from and opposed to Jesus does.  It isn’t my fault that I believe that way.  The Word of God is superior to me and I allow it to tell me what to think.  The Word of God is final authority.  I don’t have it all figured out in my head, so I choose the Word to teach me the truth.  The Word also tells me to love my neighbor as myself, so now I have to blend all of this.  This means that just because someone lives a certain lifestyle doesn’t mean that they are unworthy of my love and if I truly love someone, I want to help them, just like I needed help to get out of the sin that was in my life.  Thanks be to God for sending His Son Jesus to help all of us get out of sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When we let the Word change our mind it gives us peace and rest because we don’t have to take responsibility for how we see things.  I didn’t say, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 did!  So don’t blame me if I am living in health and don’t tell me that it isn’t God’s will to heal because I have let the Word change my mind concerning the issue.  I have repented of my wrong way of thinking.  I don’t have to get the flu every time a sniffle tries to come on my body.  That is the old way of thinking.  I stand on the Word and tell every symptom that it cannot stay in my body because of the stripes on Jesus’ back.  I didn’t say, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”  Jesus said that in Luke 6:38.  So don’t get angry with me when I am living in the prosperity that has been laid up for me, even while this economic “crisis” is upon us.  I have let my Savior change my mind, I have repented.  I have turned from the expectation of lack and turned to the expectation of prosperity.

I have made the conscious choice to submit to the Bible because I love God and His Word.  I believe what the Bible tells me in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  I consider the Word of God to be above myself.  The Word also says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” – Isaiah 55:8.  I have to mold my way of thinking to His and that takes submission, realizing that He knows how to do things and we don’t.  Once we submit to God and His way of doing things, we take the pressure off of ourselves.  His rest and peace flow over our lives because He then takes responsibility for our actions because we are doing only what He has told us to do.  This is why in James 4:7 it says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  When we submit to the Lord, then we have authority over the enemy.  This is an area that the Church needs mind renewal in.  We can rebuke the devil all we want, but if we are not submitting to God, then nothing will happen.  Only when we give into God and His ways then we will see the enemy flee from every area of our lives.

We as the Body of Christ are to lead the world to Jesus and He brings them out of destruction and to salvation.  Once we are part of His Body we are not to draw back from Gospel that brought us out of our old lives.  Hebrews 10:39 says, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”  This verse is so rich and powerful concerning repentance.  In the original Greek the word “hupostole” (pronounced hoop-os-tol-ay’) is the word used for “draw back” but the real definition of that word means, “the timidity of one stealthily retreating”.  This is completely based in fear.  We, the Body of Christ, are not of them that fearfully and timidly retreat in secret from the truth.  No, we are of them that believe to the saving of the soul.  The soul here is our mind, our will and our emotions.  You are a three part being, you are a spirit, you have a soul (mind, will and emotions) and you live in a body.  We believe the truth and our mind, will and emotions are saved.  Just think if the Church does shrink back, retreats from the truth out of fear, then the Church will be repenting, changing our mind, from salvation back to perdition or back to where we came from, the unsaved world.  I will not repent, change my mind, from the Gospel.  The Gospel of Christ is what brings us out from sin and bondage to life everlasting and communion with the Father.  We are not of those that draw back, we let the Word of God change our mind, we don’t let the world frame our thinking.  So let the washing of the water of the Word have its perfect work in you.  Let the Word change your mind…Repent!

As you continue to read, it is a necessity to keep that in mind.  If we don’t know He is willing, then we can have no faith towards what He is able to do.  You see, faith begins where the will of God is known, and fear is present when the will of God is unknown.

I have been led to focus on a very powerful Scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:8, we read here that, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work”.  God is able to make all grace, the word grace here means, “favor, or earthly blessing”.  He is able to make every blessing that He has promised in His word abound to you.  The word abound here means, “to be over and above, or to multiply”.  God wants all of His blessings and favor to be multiplied to you, why?  He does this so that you can have all sufficiency, supply, or adequate resources in all things, here on Earth.

I want to pause right here, because I have heard this Scripture used for just a money message.  I am not putting that down, or condemning that in any way, but the Word here says, “all sufficiency in ALL things”.  That is very important to understand.  He is able to make all of His promises, what promises: healing, deliverance, wholeness, the supply of your needs, spiritually, physically and financially.  He wants you to have all of His promises, multiplied to you so that you are able to multiply, exceed and be over and above towards and in every good work.  The reason isn’t so that you can just have stuff and be healthy and delivered yourself, it is to pass that goodness on to others and so that they may come into the same relationship with the Lord.

In the next two verses we see the promise connected to this ability.  In verses 9-10 it says, “As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor: His righteousness remaineth for ever. Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.”   You see, God says He is able to make all of these blessings be multiplied to you, because He provides them.  The word minster here means, “to supply or to provide”.  If you have seed to sow, it is because God gave you that seed.  That seed is to multiply in your keeping so that you can disperse it and multiply it to those around you, as the Lord leads.  If you have been healed, it is because He supplied that healing through the broken body of Jesus.  You are then to minister healing by sharing your testimony, praying for those around you and by showing others that it is God’s will to heal them too.  No promise by God has ever been simply for your enjoyment.  It has been given for you to live in and share with all those you come in contact with.  I for one have made a commitment to pursue what God has for me.  I am chasing after it with every part of who I am and I will then share it with everyone I come in contact with.

I recently was working at a restaurant in the Los Angeles area.  Everyone I worked with was an aspiring performer of some kind: actor, dancer, director or writer.  I have long decided that I am not going to “preach” to these people about things they should or should not being doing.  Instead I want to live a life of example and by that example make them come to me with questions about how God is working in my life and can work in theirs too.  I have found that people respond to the Word of God better when they are coming to it, not being thrown in their face.

At a certain time of year the business tends to drop out and everyone in the restaurant would get very pessimistic about their income.  It is tough to work in that environment, where you, seemingly, depend on others for your income.  Every single shift that I would come in, I would pray and talk to God about my needs and remind Him that His Word says that He would supply all my needs.  After encouraging myself with the Word, I would go in and listen to everyone talking negatively about how their night was going to go.  I would simply listen and say, “Not me!  I am going to do great tonight.  You may make that 40 dollars, but I will make over 100!”  I was completely speaking out of faith in what I knew God was able to do.  And every single night I worked, I would make 100 dollars or over.  After about 2 months of hearing and seeing this, I had one co-worker come up to me and say, “How are you doing this?”  I told him that I wasn’t doing anything; God was taking care of me.  He then said something that shocked me, he said, “I want God to take care of me too!”  I told him that I could help him with that.

I share this story not to look good or brag on myself, because just like I told my friend, I did nothing, I am bragging on God, He was supplying my need.  I stood on what I knew He was able to perform and knew that He would do it.  When it came time to either keep this blessing to myself and just relish in it, or to spread that Word beyond myself, I jumped at the chance to share it.  I didn’t shy away at giving God the glory and I didn’t fear that my friend would think I was crazy.  I decided to give God credit for accomplishing something that He said He would do and did in my life.

There is one more scripture that I feel is very important to share with you.  Remember, all of the things that God says He is able to do are always connected with a promise that He has made.  Well, I would like you to take a look at 2 Corinthians 1:20, it says, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”  This shows us that if God has promised it, then His answer is YES and AMEN (so be it)!  When it comes to His promises, He never says no!  I have heard it preached that when we pray to Him concerning healing or supply or any number of His promises that His answer sometimes is yes and sometimes it is no.  That is NOT what His Word says!  It ought not to be preached and it ought not to be believed, because it goes against what the Word says.  Let me show you another translation of this verse. The New Living Translation puts it this way, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.”  Through Jesus all God’s promises are fulfilled and become a “Yes” to all believers in Him.  Now we are to say “Amen” or “so be it” in response for it’s fulfillment in our lives.  Since He says yes we are to respond with a resounding, YES!  He has done this for His glory.  You see, the glory of God is shown when His power is displayed.  He has made promises, not to break them, but to keep them.  He is a great and mighty God!  When we stand in faith and say “Lord, you promised me health and wholeness and I stand on your Word and receive my deliverance from sickness and disease.”  I can just hear Him saying with a loud voice, “Yes, YES! I did it for you! It was accomplished for you! Take it, it’s yours. YES!”

This is how we have to approach what God is able to do.  Every time we see a scripture talking about how God is able to do something, we are supposed to believe that since He is telling us He can do it, He will do it!  If we know that He will do something, then we need to stand by faith that He will accomplish it, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)  God began a good work in you through His promises and blessings by Jesus Christ.  He will accomplish it because He is able to multiply His blessings and favor to you.  He has done all this to fulfill His Word and so that you can be fully supplied to bring His Word to those around you.  I believe that I receive that Word and I believe that you receive it too, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  So my response is, so be it! Amen!

I have known many people that have hidden there insecurities.  I have been around actors, singers, dancers and all types of performers.  I have been in the entertainment industry, professionally, for the past 10 years.  Most of those people are so insecure in their own skin that the only way they can cope with things, is to perform for people and put on a fake persona.  They don’t know who they really are and they keep trying to find their validity in what other people think about them.  It is an endless cycle that leads to drugs, alcohol and sex much of the time.  What they are truly missing out on is finding out what their creator and Lord thinks about them, and that only comes from the Word of God.

You see, the Word of God isn’t simply a book of stories; it is a manual and a guide on how to live a successful life.  God in His grace gave us examples of people who lived according to His Word and examples of people who didn’t.  We are supposed to look at His Word as guidelines of what we should and shouldn’t do.  When we find out how the creator of the entire universe backs us when we live the way He has shown us to live, then we can really live in confidence and boldness.

Boldness is a by-product of knowing who you are.  And we can only truly know who we are by knowing where we came from.  We have to learn from others who have been in similar situations and done the right or wrong thing.  We can then look at those examples and make the choices we need to make.  Here is the best part though, when we do things God’s way, then we have Him backing our every decision.  When we truly seek out what He would have us do, then we can rest in the confidence that everything will turn out for the best.  Even if things seem impossible, we see in the Word that God is above anything that is impossible.  In Matthew 19:26 Jesus says,

“With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

When we truly realize that we are His children, and that only comes from accepting what Jesus did at the cross, then we really grasp who we are and where we came from.  We then know who our Father is, we know who our true family is, and we have a place to go to when we feel the pressures in life.  When we spend time with God and His Word we have the answers that have eluded us.  If we rely on our own intellect and understanding, we will always fail.  Proverbs 14:12 says,

“There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

If we rely on God’s intellect and understanding, we will always triumph.  You have to spend time with Him and in His Word to gain that wisdom and understanding.

Boldness and confidence also come when you know something works.  You may have confidence in a chair to support your weight.  You have that confidence because you have experience with chairs.  It would be a shock to you if you were to sit down and the chair would break underneath you.  You see, your experience can dictate what you have confidence in or not.  It is the same way with God.  You have to develop in His way of doing things and His way of living to have boldness and confidence with Him.  That starts by trusting that God’s Word is God talking directly to you.  Then when you follow what He is telling you to do, you get on the path towards a victorious life in Him.  When you spend the time to stay in Him and His Word, then you can truly live a bold and confident life, knowing that you will have the victory no matter what you may face.  You will see that God’s Word works and that He will always be there right beside you.  And when you truly develop in that, by spending much time with God and His word, then and only then will you live a bold and confident life.

The time spent there was amazing.  I got to see all of the places that I have read about all my life.  I got to walk where Jesus walked and see the places that changed all of history and mankind.  I was 30 years old when I went and I got re-baptized in the Jordan river…at the age of 30!  That was very special to me.  Knowing that Jesus Himself was baptized in that river at 30 years old.  I did it as a symbol of my devotion to go into full time ministry for the Lord.  I got to see the garden tomb, one of the two places that they believe our Lord was buried and was resurrected.  I got to see the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum, two places that Jesus was often at during His life and earthly ministry.  All of these places were wonderful to see, but I was most impacted by seeing the Garden of Gethsemane.  There were olive trees there that they know are over 2000 years old.   To see those trees and to think that Jesus could have prayed underneath one or leaned on it when He was under such pressure because of the next hours that awaited Him was sobering, to say the least.

When I was getting ready to go on the trip, I was expecting to have this great epiphany or huge spiritual awakening being at the very places where all these important events happened.  I was amazed and in awe of the fact that I didn’t really feel “closer” to God, like I had expected to be.  It was then that I realized, it isn’t about the places that these things happened.  Yes, it is wonderful to see them.  It is fantastical and wonderful that all this history and events happened there, but it won’t bring us closer to God.  Why is that?  Because God is in us!  He is always with us and the only way we can get closer to Him is through His Word.  “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” -Romans 10:17.  God is no closer or nearer to you or me than the time we spend in His Word.  If we want these great moments and our faith to build, we have to spend time reading, meditating, studying and especially listening to the Word of God.

He is always with you.  He promises to never leave, nor forsake you.  Stay thankful for a God that doesn’t live in a certain place on earth and you have to go there to experience Him.  We have a God that you can always find.  You can find Him in your car, your house, in a restaurant, in the doctor’s office.  He is in all these places because He is inside of you, at all times!