Pastors in India crying out to God.

By Tom Shanklin

A new year is always a great time to reflect on what has been happening in your life and to make projections for the future. It is also a time when many people make New Year’s resolutions. But surveys indicate that by January 20th about 80 percent of those resolutions will be broken. Overall, only about 8 percent of new year’s resolutions are successfully fulfilled. The resulting failure is often a source of great discouragement for many people.

This is because the power of change comes from God. If you leave God out of the equation, you will experience failure!

Most resolutions today revolve around external things—losing weight, improving your health, becoming more disciplined, getting better grades, getting out of debt, becoming more successful in business or career.

Even as Christians, our desire to change is often focused primarily on external things. We want to deal with those outward sins that others can see, rather than looking deeper to the matters of the heart. But Jesus said that it is the things that come from inside that defile a man:

“Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” Matthew 15:17-20, KJV.

In other words, outward things are actually a reflection of inward things. The things that are coming out of your mouth and the things that you are doing with your body are actually a reflection of the things that are going on in your heart. If you change the heart, then you will change the actions.

This is another reason why most New Year’s resolutions fail. Because they are most often an attempt to change the symptoms rather that the source of the problem. True change comes from the heart. And only God can change a heart.

God has Good Plans for Us!

It seems to me that each year as I seek the Lord, I hear Him indicating good things to come. He’s always talking about increase, blessings, fruitfulness, miracles, and success. When I listen to the predictions and prophetic words of others, I hear similar things.

But yet, I do not always see these things coming to pass in my life or in the lives of others. God always seems to have bigger plans and greater things for us than we are able to achieve.

We see this in the Scriptures also. For example, God told Joshua to meditate the Scriptures, and he would “make his way prosperous and he would have good success.” (Joshua 1:8) Yet many years later the Bible says, “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Joshua 13:1, KJV.

God did tremendous things in Joshua’s life, but still we see that there was a gap between what God had promised and what Joshua was able to achieve. I think if we are honest, the same gap exists to some degree in each of our lives.

So the question is, how do we close the gap? How can we in the Body of Christ begin to possess our possessions and walk in our inheritance—in our own lives and our own families? How can we walk in our own healing, our own victory, our own peace of mind which God has promised to us? What is lacking in our faith? How can we turn things around?

And we need God’s promises to be activated, not only for ourselves, but for the sake of the world around us. According to the Word of God, but we have the capacity to change the world. He has told us, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Psalms 2:8, KJV. Well, there are plenty of heathen (unsaved people) available, both around the world and in our own country. Why aren’t we reaching them as we should?

The Missing Link

I believe there is a missing link. With all our faith teaching, encouraging messages, Christian self-help books, success seminars, and spiritual conferences, we are still not walking in the power which Jesus promised to us. I believe that the missing link in many cases is repentance. Too often there are things that are operating in our lives and in our nature which are blocking us from walking in the fulness of God’s redemptive power.

The word “repent” means to turn around, to turn from evil and to God, to do an about face, and to make a decision that changes the total direction of your life. If you don’t like the way you are going, turn around—repent!

Think about it! This is the one message that seems to be almost universally ignored in the church world today. Jesus said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” But it seems that in the church we think the message of repentance is too negative. We want to take the positive approach, and make people feel good about themselves. But Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Mat 1:21), not to leave them in their sins.

The truth is, preaching the Gospel without the message of repentance is like putting a band aid on a terminal cancer. It has no power to heal. Repentance is a vital part of the most positive message of all. You can be forgiven, set free, and healed. Turn around. God will forgive you! God will change you! God will heal you!

The Bible says that through repentance, you will receive:

• Abundant pardon. (Isaiah 55:7)
• Life and not death. (Ezekiel 18:21)
• Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. (Act 3:19)
• The gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
• Healing for our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Are not these these the things that we desperately need today? Is not this the change that we all desire most deeply in 2013? As we repent, we can see change in our lives, in our families, in our churches, and in our nation.

Paul told the church at Corinth, a church living in a corrupt and immoral city…much like the society that we live in today, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1, KJV.

Our God promises to be a Father to us IF we come out of this present corrupt world system, with it’s perverted values and immoral lifestyles. We are to make a choice, he says, to come into complete holiness and to cleanse ourselves in the spirit and the flesh—both inwardly and outwardly.

But how do we make that change? How do we repent? How do receive that change of heart that really makes things different? And will our repentance be effectual or will it be just another broken New Year’s resolution that only serves to make us feel badly about ourselves and hopelessly bound?

1. We must be be sorry for our sins.

Paul told the church at Corinth, “For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” 2 Corinthians 7:8-10, KJV.

Paul had made the Corinthians SORRY with a letter. How many ministers today are making people sorry with their letters (or their sermons)? Mostly, it about making them feel good about themselves. But sometimes, in order to GET HAPPY, you need to get SAD. We need more convicting messages from our pulpits today, so people will SORROW unto repentance. I’m not talking about CONDEMNING messages. I’m talking about CONVICTING messages. There is a difference. Conviction always gives you a way out. Conviction gives you an open door. Conviction gives you a future and hope. Condemnation knocks you to the ground and gives you no opportunity to get back up.

We need convicting messages from the pulpits so we can feel the weight of conviction because of our sin, and then turn to God in true repentance. We need to bring conviction about things like:

• Sexual immorality
• Lustful thoughts
• Pornography
• Drunkenness
• Drug abuse
• Anger
• Hatred
• Pride
• Rebellion
• Doubt and Unbelief
• Putting things or people ahead of God
• Gossip
• Causing others pain by your actions
• Failing to walk in love
• Manipulation in relationships

Paul talks about many of these things in the book of Galatians, and tells us that those who how practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21, KJV.

Take time to examine your own heart and to feel the weight of conviction of sin. Then, and only then, can you allow the surgery to take place that will bring true and lasting change in your life.

2. We must make a definite inward decision to change. 

Repentance is a both a miracle of God and a blessing from God. The scripture says, “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”” Acts 3:26, NKJV.

Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and a true godly sorrow, God is able to work in the heart of man to bring a true inward change. The power of the Holy Spirit brings transformation as we open up to His will for our life.

Sometimes the process of repentance comes through a personal encounter with God. Or it can come through the preaching of the Word. Or it may come because a person’s sin is exposed, or they begin to suffer because of their sin, or because they find themselves in a dangerous situation. Sometimes people find repentance on a battlefield or in a prison cell.

As our nation and the nations of the world begin to reel with judgements and the consequences of sin, we may see more and more people repenting of their sins and turning back to God. We also know from the Word of God that some will harden their hearts and refuse to turn from their evil ways, in spite of the hard times that will come.

It is always best it we are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and make a decision to judge ourselves rather than to be judged, not waiting for some negative situation to expose our sin and reveal the need for repentance in our lives. If we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and if we tremble at the Word of God, then we will quickly repent and avoid many of the negative consequences of our sins.

3. We must apply the blood of Jesus in faith.

Repentance alone cannot save us apart from Jesus Christ. It’s only through the shed blood of Calvary that our sins can be forgiven and we can be truly saved. Through Him and only through Him we have the forgiveness of sins.

As the scripture says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9, KJV.

We need to desire to change, become sorry for our sin, make a definite inward choice to  change, and then we can trust God for forgive and cleanse us through the power of the blood of Jesus. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14, KJV.

Take time to examine your heart and wait upon God. Let Him expose any darkness that may be lurking deep inside. I’m not talking about manufacturing something that is not there. But just take a good honest look! Repent of any hidden (or not so hidden) sins, and renounce any sin or stronghold that has found a foothold in your life. As God exposes these things, He will also give the power to truly repent and get these things under the power of the blood of Jesus, where they can no longer control you. Those bondages, whether they be mental, physical, spiritual, or sexual can be broken once for all. Once you repent, take authority over these things in Jesus’ mighty name and refuse to give them place or power in your life.

Do Christians need to repent?

Do Christians need to repent? Most definitely! If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Yes, we are legally redeemed and delivered, but as long as we live in these mortal bodies, we will need to resist sin, and repent of it when it comes up in our thoughts, words, or actions.

Repentance is a blessing. For many, it’s a blessing in disguise. It seems like a negative, but in reality it’s a positive. It leads to life and victory. Notice what Paul says to the church at Corinth after they had repented of the sexual immorality that had found its way into the church.

“For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:11, KJV.

It is a happy thing to repent! When you do, you will get free! You will get hot for God! You will have a hunger and desire that has been eluding you for years. And you will see a release of God’s miracle power in your life and ministry.

God is planning good things for you in 2013! Your life can change. I encourage you to take God at His Word, repent of anything contrary to His will, and believe for a release of His miraculous power in your life this year. As William Carey said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” Let us lay hold of those promises and the bright future that God has for us today!

God bless you!