Dear Sir,
RE:
Repent! What does it mean?
Author: Jack Heckathorne – Jack@GJCN.orgThe verse says “If we confess…He will forgive. If we do confess our sins we can avoid punishment from God. However, if we continue in sin divine discipline will surely come. God knows that we will all sin from time to time because of temptation but He hates habitual sin even more because it is intentional and keep us out of fellowship with him and we become useless to his purpose on earth.
Then what happens when we become useless? Does Jesus ignore us as a whole until our appointed time to die what???
The reason I ask this question is this, I have accepted Jesus as my savior and have back sided but, even during my back sliding times I still knew he was there for me. I kept making promises “vows” to God and Jesus but never did fulfill them. Now I have absolutely hit “rock-bottom” in my life. I have asked to return to Jesus and God this time being truly sorry for my sins and not keeping my vows to him. But, I tell God and Jesus that I am older wiser and that I have learned my lesson! Here is the problem I have God and Jesus I feel are keeping their distance from me. I no longer feel the Holy spirit moving on me like before despite my earnest requests for the holy spirit and seeking god’s will for my life. I am wrecking my brain and praying for guidance still silence from above – nothing no word. Is this chastisement? or is it forget you I tried to help you so many times but you rejected me sorry but no more help, is this what you mean by being useless?
I really try everyday to seek and reach out to god and Jesus but I feel so alone and empty. please advise I need opinions and prayer rallies for myself. I do not want to live this life without God or Jesus and I certainly do not want to die and got hell either.
Quandary here in PHZ, AZ
Jack Heckathorne’s Reply….
Greetings. Jesus will always be with us. He is our salvation. Once we have accepted him as our savior we are said to be “in Christ.” What happens when we sin is that we quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. We lose the filling of the Holy Spirit. Since it is the Holy Spirit who controls our lives as our teacher and leads us in Gods desired path we as believers are left out on our own in Satan’s world. In other words , we control our lives instead of God. The world is a slippery slope to say the least so we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
When I said “Useless to Gods purpose” I meant that the HS is no longer in control of our life and God cannot use us to witness to others because it is the HS who leads us and without him we become disoriented in our spiritual life. Sometimes God disciplines us to get us back on the right track by taking away the things that we most love such as money, a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever it is that will get our attention. If we get in the state of sin to the point that our hearts are hardened against God and we ignore Gods discipline he can allow us to die the sin unto death and we will lose our rewards in Heaven. However, this is an extreme case and it need not happen if we follow Gods word.
To be restored to fellowship with God we must confess our sins to God the Father. (1 John 1:9). When we are forgiven of sin the HS then can control our lives once again. God cannot be in the presents of sin. Please realize that this is not a license to sin because we will be disciplined if we fail to confess our sins or if we continue in habitual sin.. Also, the Bible tells us that we should quit grieving the HS. This means to stop sinning over and over again. We should resist sin. Sin is Satan’s temptation for us to go against God.
Throughout our lives God works with us. He corrects our mistakes and lets us know where we go wrong and get off course. When we hit bottom (as we all have) there are two good things that can happen. There is only one way to go and that is up. More importantly it is a great opportunity to use our faith. God truly wants us to live by faith. Our lives as believers are all about faith. “For we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor:5:7). “Without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6)
Understand that God does not tell us to be sorry for our sins. Repent means to change your mind. Depending on the context it can mean change your mind about your sinful ways or change your mind about believing in Jesus. We may be sorry that we have sinned but that will not restore our fellowship with God. We must confess our sins. Name each one to God. Confession is not asking for forgiveness. We must search our soul and name each sin. We confess and He forgives.
Making vows is not what God tells us either. That’s like promising not to sin when God tells us that we are all sinners. “There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” As you know we cannot live up to vows and commitments.
The way to resist sin is to learn more and more about Christ. As we learn more we will keep our eyes on Christ. We will mature as a believer, This is where our happiness comes from. Jesus said “In the world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world. When we sin we are sinning against Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us that “If I regard (allow) iniquity (sin) in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” In other words when we are in a state of sin God will not hear our prayers until we confess our sins.
We are Christians living in the devils world. We are going to have troubles. Paul tells us that “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed. (2 Cor 4:8&9)
Being disciplined is not a bad thing really. God does it for a reason. So that we will learn about him. When things get really tough we tend to look to God for help. . “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. (Ps. 119:71)
I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness Thou has afflicted me. (Ps 119:75)
You are Gods property and he will never give up on you
“Casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) . Regards JH GJCN
PS: We have some very good study books on various Biblical subjects including this one that we will send you free and postage paid upon your request. We do not advertise them on GJCN but we make them available to people such as yourself who are interested in Gods word. If you would like to receive them simply let me know by return email and furnish an address to send them to.
Keep the faith and hold the course!
Thanks for your question. Feel free to write anytime.
Regards,
Jack Heckathorne
GJCN