Week 2 Repentance

In battle, a warrior may fall and hit the floor. But a true warrior will not make the ground his home. He gets up and fights again. Repentance is the catalyst to getting back on our feet. Authentic repentance is a change of the heart that leads to 180 degree turn from sin. Let’s take a look at the life of David:

In 1 Samuel 13:14, David is called “A man after God’s own heart”, and rightfully so. David exhibits wisdom, faithfulness and devotion to God as he slays Goliath, spares the life of Saul, and receives the keys to his own kingdom. When we think of David we think of his courage, the heights of his reign and the breadth of his character, but now we are about to encounter his dark side.

In 2 Samuel 11, David is taken over by his lust over Bathsheba. He sleeps with her, impregnates her, and then murders her husband.

David finally got honest with himself and God. After receiving some tough-love from his friend Nathan, David finally repented.

Unfortunately, it took David almost a year to confess and repent. Up until then, David lived in darkness. Sorrow ate away at his conscious, while shame slowly eroded what was left of his soul.  In Psalm 32, you can read what David’s life was like when he refused to confess. You read about his aching bones, sleeplessness, and the slow madness brought on by his internal crisis. This despair and anguish was a symptom of David’s shame and unrepentant heart. 

The opposite of shame is true, godly-sorrow. This type of grief does not leave us in a pit of mire. Instead, it leads us to life, change, and total restoration.

We see this so clear in Psalm 51. David is crying-out to God to have mercy on him. You can empathize with the psalmist as his contrite heart begins to crush under the weight of healthy, godly-sorrow. As painful as it may seem, this type of pain is necessary as it drove David to authentic repentance. David’s brokenness caused him to cry out for forgiveness, which invited God to come into the situation and heal David’s heart. Forgiveness and restoration followed, and David could now feel the love of God which had never left him.

What secret sin are you harboring that you have not repented for?

We fall in the several dangerous myths that lead us to a place of personal devastation brought on by unrepentant sin. Maybe, we subconsciously believe that God’s grace gives us permission to sin. Maybe we take for granted the blood of Christ, and instead of believing that His sacrifice was the ultimate antidote for sin, we use it as a daily band-aid to cover our secret habits.    

God doesn’t want us to treat Him like a “quick fix” remedy that only temporarily covers our problem. He desires for us to know that whoever His blood touches, that His blood changes – permanently! God designed us to have repentant heart, and a longing to seek Him with everything we have so that we can experience true restoration and the loving kindness only a good, good Father can give. 

As we become more intimate with the Lord and dive deeper into His character, life becomes less about trying not to sin and more about living for our Father.

So, how do we change our heart?

·         Embrace godly-sorrow.

·         Take ownership of your sin.

·         Confess with your mouth what you have done.

·         Change your lifestyle habits, thinking patterns, and people of negative influence.

·         Adopt new and healthy lifestyle habits, thinking patterns and people of godly influence.  

·         If you find yourself powerless to do any of the above. Ask someone right now for help.          

Process & Reflect:

1.      Examine your heart.

2.      Ask the Holy Spirit, “Is there anything that I am allowing in my life that I need to repent for?

3.      As God reveals those very things, with a broken and contrite heart, ask for forgiveness and repent.

4.      Examine the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Shame and condemnation are not of God.

5.      If this is real struggle, ask your accountability partner for help to turn away from.

6.      Ask God for strength as you turn away.

7.      Choose to live a different life.

8.      Understand that this is a process not perfection. God is concerned with the heart, not just our  actions.

9.      Make this a continual process in your life.

Daily Scripture for Week 2

DAY 2 | SCRIPTURE  

Psalm 51:1-19

…Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity…

Process & Reflect:

Walk through this Psalm line by line. Ask God to show you what each of these lines has to do with your repentance. Have you felt these feelings, have you thought those thoughts? How is it that God is the one whom David sinned against primarily?

Journal what God shows to you.

DAY 3 | SCRIPTURE

Acts 3:19

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins maybe wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Process & Reflect:

What are you really looking for in the world? What needs refreshing in your life? Write down the areas of your life that need refreshing. Ask God what He has to say about those things. Journal what you hear or see.

DAY 4 | SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 7:9-10 NIV

Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Process & Reflect:

Having an awareness of our defeats in battle is not intended to make you feel bad about yourself. However, it is to open you up to God’s victorious alternatives for the weakness you saw manifested in our life. We often run from sorrow because it is uncomfortable, and worldly sorrow hurts. Take some time alone or with a trusted mentor to allow God to gently lead you through Godly sorrow to get to the power for change that it brings.

DAY 5 | SCRIPTURE

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Process & Reflect:

The reason Jesus sets us free from our sin and iniquity is so that we can live life free from the bondage our sin created. He gives us resources to redeem the collateral damage our sin created. That victorious life allows us to turn and fight the darkness of this world without the hindrances of guilt and shame. A warrior cannot fight up to his potential strapped with everything he collected over the years. Confess your mistakes. Agree with God that they were bad. Then leave them at the cross and don’t go back to them, so you can fight to free others from their bondage.

What sin cycles do you keep putting back in your baggage that are keeping you down? Now an even stronger question… What could you accomplish for God’s kingdom if you weren’t so weighed down with guilt and shame?

DAY 6 | SCRIPTURE 

Luke 13:3

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Process & Reflect:

It is not from a stance of superiority that Jesus wrote this. If a comrade told you that if you pull the pin from a grenade, it will blow up… you would probably believe him. In the natural, we see consequences play out in real time. Sometimes we look at spiritual consequences as an intangible and uncertain thing. There may be room in your belief system for some tightening up. Not all death and or perishing comes at the end of your life, though we certainly focus on that part in sight of eternity. Think of repentance as a daily safety check. Ask God, “what am I doing in my life that is bringing death to me and those around me?” You might be surprised at how many armed and dangerous grenades that God will point out in your life.

DAY 7 |  DISCUSS IN SMALL-GROUP

1.       In your daily fight, what past baggage is keeping you from fighting at your potential?  

2.       Who has the authority to bring your lost fights back to your memory?

3.       Do you really believe you are free from the things you repent from?   

4.       Why does God care about your repentance?