WHAT TYPE OF REPENTANCE?

Memory verse: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel 2:13

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jeremiah 31-33

In Exodus, God sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: “let my people go.” When Pharaoh heard, he was wrath. Exodus 5:2 says And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will i let Israel go. Every attempt to convince Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go was ignored. Because he refused to let them go, the Lord began to plague Egypt. He started by turning their water to blood (Exodus 7:19); Pharaoh was unmoved. The Lord plagued the land with frogs (Exodus 8:2-4); Pharaoh did not budge. The Lord sent lice (Exodus 8:16), because his magicians were able to reproduce these plagues, he ignored the plea to let the children of Israel go.

The Lord sent flies (Exodus 8:21), these flies began to trouble all the Egyptians, Pharaoh repented and called for Moses and Aaron. He said; i will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me (Exodus 8:27).” This is called “EMERGENCY REPENTANCE.” Pharaoh permitted the children of Israel to go and sacrifice because he was suffering, the moment relief came; he changed his mind. Since he refused to change, the plagues kept on coming. Their livestock perished (Exodus 9:3); they were inflicted with boils (Exodus 9:8); thunder and hail destroyed their fields (Exodus 9:18); locust destroyed their plantations (Exodus 10:4). When the plagues became unbearable, he repented again. This is time around, he permitted only the men to go and sacrifice, leaving the women and children behind. This is called “INCOMPLETE REPENTANCE.” There are many who have repented from robbing the Lord in tithes, instead of paying a tenth of their earning, they pay a fifth of their earning. As far as God is convinced, this is not repentance.

The plagues continued, the Land was covered with thick darkness (Exodus 10:21) and then the Lord killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians (Exodus 11:4-5). This time around, he repented and took an action; he literally chased the children of Israel out of Egypt. One would have thought that Pharaoh had finally repented but it was a “FALSE REPENTANCE,” after the children of Israel left Egypt, he went after them to bring them back to Egypt.God is interested in genuine repentance not repentance by mouth. Is your repentance an emergency one, an incomplete one, or worse still a false repentance? You said you have repented, no more fornication and adultery again, after a while you called your ex to come and pass the night at your place. Is that repentance? Because you wanted something desperately from God, you vowed never to do certain things again, the moment the Lord answered your prayers, you went back and continued in them. You said you have turned a new leaf but not completely, you no longer smoke but you drink. You no longer watch pornography but you look at nude pictures. Is that repentance?

ACTION: Pray that the Lord will truly give you a change of heart.

Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus.

SLOW IN TURNING

And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Ruth 1:3-5

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 61-63

Ruth 1:3-5 says and Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Yesterday, we discussed about Elimelech’s move to Moab – a pagan nation. The move was against God’s will for his life. How can a man leave God’s care for a pagan nation and call it the will of God? Anyway, he moved his family out of God’s care and all sorts began to happen to his family. Firstly, he died. This was the perfect opportunity to set things right by relocating back to Israel. One would have thought that they will return to Israel to bury Elimelech and stay there but they did not. Instead, they buried him in Moab and married wives in the land. At times God uses painful instances to speak to us but the reason many of us cannot hear is that we are set in our hearts to do that thing.

Mahlon died in Moab, they buried him there and still stayed put in this land. Chilion also died, it was at this point, Naomi’s eye opened and she decided to return to Israel. This was all avoidable, at the time Elimelech died, they would have returned home but they did not. Naomi waited until all her sons died leaving her with two daughter in laws before going back to Israel. Each of those deaths was a strong message and signal to return to God and to the land even if it meant pain and hunger. What kept Naomi in Moab until she lost all is unknown to anyone, we may never be able to answer this question but those who are insensitive to the voice of the Spirit of God and who are unrepentant or slow in turning from a wrong thing, wrong place, wrong steps, wrong decision, etc, usually pay heavily for it.

Is God speaking to you, through your present situation and you are refusing to change? Some of the excuse people give is i have invested so much in it – relationship, investment, business, etc, and i have no other option than to remain. It does not matter how much you have spent, if God is speaking to you to change, do not be slow in turning. Have you left the assembly where God has placed you because of scarcity of husbands or some other thing? I beg you in the name of the Lord, move back.

NOTE: Please do not procrastinate any further, act fast and decisively, repent and move away from all that represent Moab and move back to the will of God for your life.

Bro Samuel - Reaching the world for Jesus.

REGRET, REMORSE & REPENTANCE

MEMORY VERSE: and rend your heart, not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil, Joel 2:13

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Sam 17, Rom 15, Lam 2, Luke 22

Why do people in the bible ‘rent their clothes’ or tear their shirts when something happens? They do that as a way of showing extreme anger for example after interviewing Jesus, the High Priest tore his garment and shouted blasphemy to show he was angry with the response of Jesus (Matthew 26:59-66). People also rent their clothes as a way of showing deep sorrow for example Reuben rent his clothes when he found out that Joseph had been taken from the pit and sold (Genesis 37:29). The third reason why people rent their clothes is to show regret and remorse like we read in Joel 2:13-and rend your heart, not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

God is not interested in regret that does not lead to a change of heart. Actually we have learnt that regret profits nothing anyway. Regrets only leads to emotional pain. It can lead to rash decision. It can also hinder one’s progress, cause stagnancy and if care is not taken it can lead to death as we saw in the case of Judas Iscariot. God is not interested in the death of any sinner so regret is not what God is looking for. Remorse is been sorry about ones action but never putting measures in place to stop it from happening again. Saul did everything in his power to kill David. Every time David had the opportunity to kill Saul and he didn’t, Saul will start to cry. He would say I am terrible person, you are a good man. The next minute you find the same Saul chasing after David to kill him. This is remorse. 

Repentance is not only about feeling sorry but putting measures in place to ensure that you don’t fall again. For example as an individual, you know that too much talking gets you into trouble – you say things you should not say. What you do is minimize the way you talk. You know there are one or two things you do not like doing, but you find yourself doing them. Instead of crying for forgiveness every night, investigate the cause or what circumstance leads to them. Take for instance masturbation and pornography, 99 per cent of the time people masturbate when they are idle. What you do is avoid idleness and keep yourself busy. Not only that, distance yourself from nude pictures, music where they talk of sex or movies where they have sex. How about fornication? It is impossible to fornicate when people are watching, what you do is avoid going to visit the opposite sex alone. If you find yourself alone with the opposite sex at your place or any where make sure the doors are open and the windows are all open with the curtains up so that everyone can see what is going in the room. If it is at night, don’t sleep in the same room with the opposite sex alone. If internet pornography is the problem always use the internet when people are around. If it is gossiping, avoid the company of those that gossip and if you find yourself in their midst whatever they say just tell them nobody is perfect. Lastly, you also need to take your bible studies very seriously and fast for mercy.

FACTS: Identify what causes you to sin or the circumstances that leads to them and deal with it.

Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus

IDOLS FRUSTRATE EXPECTATIONS

Monday 27 August                         Bible in one year : Obadiah 1, John 1-4

Memorise: The hope of the righteous shall be gladness:but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.Proverbs 10:28

Read: Isaiah 44:10-18

Before you receive a prophetic declaration, check out the the fruit of the vessel-the prophet,pastor,or servant of God, whether the fellow is still in league with God. Some people say, “thus says the Lord, “but the Lord did not say anything to them. Some of them heard from themselves and spoke. Be careful of what you accept as being from God. In Jeremiah 28:1-4, Hananiah  a prophet prophesied that in two years God was going to set Israel free from the yoke of the King of Babylon, but it was all a lie! Imagine  the joy of the people when they heard that. But after two years, and the prophecy did not come to pass,all the expectations of the people failed.Instead of two years, they spent 70 years . In other words, the prophetic lies of prophets cannot change what God wants to do or alter its timing.Stick with genuine men of God and particularly the Word of God i.e. the Bible.

Apart from lies,expectations that are based on the support of an idol , another power or spirit will definitely be disappointed. Sincere Idol worshipers and cultist know that there are severe manipulations and falsehood regarding the predictions of their idols or deities.They also know that promises of fame, power and wealth made to them are actually in return for long life,health,the lives of their loved ones,etc.being taken from them. Satan does not offer any free gift but at the time of offer, he will make everything appear as if it’s free. The recipient of such offers would have been trapped before there is a realisation of what the devil would have in return ( Isaiah 40:19-20,24). The expectations of the wicked including idol worshipers shall fail (Proverbs 10:28). This involves confidence in local deities,charms,amulets,magic rings,love portions,anything and anyone you love to a point of taking the place of God in your hear. According to Psalms 92:7 and Isaiah 45:16, Idol worshippers with their hopes shall be dissapointed because they to share what God cannot with anyone - His glory. The prophets of Ball who contested with Elijah on Mount Carmel were disappointed and lost their lives (1 Kings 18:17-40). Are you using evil powers or contesting with a bona fide child of God? Your expectations shall fail and you may even lose your life. Repent today, and apologise to the child of God you are fighting before the Lord faces you.

ACTION POINT: Make this confession: Every idol taking God’s place in my hear, i tear you down and enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ at the centre of my life.

Excerpts from open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

Hope of Restoration

Monday 23 July                         Bible in one year: 1 Samuel 29-31

Memorise: For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Job 14:7

Read: Ezra 10:2-3

Sin is a cruel robber of hope. You will observe that as a believer in right standing with God, it is easy for you to express faith and hope but the moment you sin, the basis for faith and hope is eroded. Fear and doubt invade your heart. You will begin to wonder if the promised of God you have been waiting for will still be realised or not. Sin robs you of hope so you should keep away from it. After falling into sin,some people completely lose the hope of being forgiven or restored to faith. A young evangelist who faithfully won several souls to the Lord was a victim of this. He fell into fornication one day and the devil deceived him that because of that act he could never receive pardon.He believed that lie and continued to live in sin until he fell ill one day and was hospitalised. While there , he was in the same ward with another man- a pastor who carefully studied his bible. He admired him. One day , the pastor asked him if he was a Christian and he said He used to be.”used to ? What happened?” The pastor asked and he told him his story. The pastor immediately swung into action showing him through that he could be forgiven and restored. Then he prayed with him and joy flooded his heart that night.

By the following morning when the pastor woke up ,he did not see his ward mate so he asked the nurses about him. He was informed that the man had joyfully passed on. After his tests, his wife- a medical doctor- announced to the pastor that he was free to go. Annoyed that he was kept in a hospital bed for days for nothing,he pondered on why God would allow that , only to realize he was used to restore hope to the hopeless. Have you backslidden and believe there is no more hope  for your restoration? There is hope for you today! Go on your knees, confess your sins and re-invite Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior and dedicate your life to Him. He will forgive and restore you. From today’s Bible reading , some men who were isrealites, violated God’s command in Deuteronomy 7:- yet they had hope for restoration. However , do not deliberately sin thinking you will always have opportunity to repent and be forgiven; you may not. But today, you can be restored to the Lord now. He will forgive you and put you back on track to Heaven.

ACTION POINT: Prayerfully search for three backsliders around you and lead them back to Christ.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye