And if you want to move on I won't be hurt----i won't even know. :) But, what if you have been really struggling in one area that you just can't seem to get victory in-- and this is part of the answer?
This week I have learned that a repentant heart is not something we can manufacture. Go ahead and say it, I did, "I know that". But, the problem was that every time I felt guilty for doing something wrong and then asked God to forgive me--I would think that I had repented. And, although I felt bad for what I had done, it wouldn't be long and I would often go right back and do it again. The problem? I was trying to produce the repentance. But, it was of this world and it did me no good. Then during a study this week they wrote, God is the one who gives repentance. If you want it, ask Him for it. It was a light bulb moment for me. I ask Him for things all the time--but never that. Part of this thought is based on the following verse:
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:25-26
I want to please Him. I want my life to glorify Him. If it has been this simple all a long--how did I miss it. This week I started asking God , to give me a broken, repentant heart. When the Spirit speaks I want to obey the first time. I don't want to keep going back to the same attitudes and actions all the time.
Earlier this morning I was speaking to a friend and she gave me this verse, with which I will close.
Ezekiel 36:24-28-(the message)
"For here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I'll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I'll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that's God-willed, not self-willed. I'll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You'll once again live in the land I gave our ancestors. You'll be my people! And I will be your God!"
Dear God, give us a new repentant heart. And then we can ask you, "Are we there yet?".
5 comments:
About Ps and Qs (from WorldWide Words):
These are some of the explanations I’ve seen advanced in various places:
Advice to a child learning its letters to be careful not to mix up the handwritten lower-case letters p and q.
Similar advice to a printer’s apprentice, for whom the backward-facing metal type letters would be especially confusing.
Jocular, or perhaps deadly serious, advice to a barman not to confuse the letters p and q on the tally slate, on which the letters stood for the pints and quarts consumed “on tick” by the patrons.
An abbreviation of mind your please’s and thank-you’s.
Instructions from a French dancing master to be sure to perform the dance figures pieds and queues accurately.
An admonishment to seamen not to soil their navy pea-jackets with their tarred queues, that is, their pigtails.
D
Very good post! How true. One thing that I always have to remind myself is that I can obey, because the Holy Spirit is there with me, giving me the strength. I don't have to try to do everything in my own strength! That too is a simple yet complex idea. I guess we (I) like to do everything myself, on my own. But I don't have to. I do have to listen and obey though. And obedience comes through Him. D
Fabulous! I have to get to the site you're doing this study on cause I want to do it too. I know you gave it to me already. You are right. And I thank God it is different this time. When I 1st repented when I met the Lord, I was so torn up about what I had done in the past. It was almost as if I was more concerned with being sorry and showing Him I was than the actual turning away and living for and through Him. That is whacked! I got so low and sinfilled when I walked away from Him that, if I would have repented like I did at conversion, I would just be weeping and carrying on until I "fell asleep" (don't you love that?). I got so filthy without Him, I knew there was no chance of me being "repentant enough" or "making up" to Him for any of it. That's not what He wants anyway. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey me." I obviously can't do that either (on my own). I have confessed the realization of my retchedness and am crying out with faith, hope, love and expectation for Him to "make me" clean. Thank you for this verse, I remembered it, but didn't know where to find it (I know you can believe that). Now I have a specific verse to use when I cry out to Him. I am on a mission to throw myself at His feet and be so persistant the He will answer and help me just to shut me up. Even though, it is His nature to answer just because He loves me, I am His child and I am praying His will. I could go on and on, but I've got to go. Brett is sick with fever, please pray for him.
Love
Great post and needed reminder.
Your music box caught my attention the other day with the Pulpit Fiction. What a hoot! I sent the link to my pastors.
Yes - great post indeed!
Hi Sharon, I just popped in to say hi after your visit to my blog...will be back later to read more - my kiddies need a snack and attending to now :)
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