Rev. 22:10-14

Isaiah 32:9-18

Rev. 3:1-6

Rev. 3:14-22

Acts 3:17-21

What do these verses tell us about the return of Christ?

In what ways do the passages describe the need to be ready?

What actions regarding repentance accompany those who believe in and are preparing for His coming?

What is the Spirit showing us about the Church or about ourselves regarding our need to live awake and repent?

A fitting response to God’s mercy in showing us our spots is to repent. “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned” as the prodigal said to his father. But repentance is more than confession, it is more than being sorry or sad. Repentance seems to come when we are at the end of ourselves – no more excuses, no more rationalizations, no more vain attempts to get our act together and do better. Repentance comes when we are cut to the heart and laid bare by God’s merciful conviction. What results is a holy disgust for our own sin mingled with a holy sadness for grieving the heart of God which drives us to our knees. “I choose to turn away from that thing that has grieved You and to turn to you. Strengthen me, Holy Spirit to flee and turn, as you work in me to will and work for your pleasure.”

The well known passage of 2 Chronicles 7:15 presents a prayerful pathway of repentance.

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

We are a people called by His name. My behavior and my attitudes reflect upon the name I bear. My sin does not just hurt me or others, it also sullies His name.

Humility precedes repentance. True humility takes off all masks, refuses to blame or justify. As Isaiah 66:2 states, “This is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite and trembles at my word.” 

Prayer is the cry of the penitent heart to a merciful God. “Father, I don’t want this anymore. Father, I am sorry for disobeying, I am sorry for dishonoring You. Please help me to turn.  I trust You, Holy Spirit, that by your leading and power, I have all that I need to forsake my old ways and walk with You. Jesus, thank you for your beautiful and powerful blood that cleanses me. Please forgive me, Jesus.” The simple cries of the contrite heart are heard and received. A broken heart, godly grief, a cry for mercy and strength, God will not despise.

We seek His face, not just His blessings. Repentance is not merely an avenue to garner God’s blessings. It is a pathway for restored relationship and intimacy with Him. It is possible to use repentance, if we can call it that, as a means of manipulating the Almighty. God called the Israelites who were in exile out on this behavior in Zechariah 7. “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these 70 years, was it for me that you fasted?” This penetrating question cuts to the heart. God saw through their religious behaviors as being a means for God to give them what they wanted rather than for God to give them renewed hearts to love Him. We are called upon to seek His face simply because we love Him.

As we recognize whose name we represent, as we humble ourselves before His gaze, as we pray the simple cries of the heart to be forgiven and set free and as we seek His face alone, then we are in the proper position to turn, to repent of our wicked ways.   And He will hear from heaven, forgive our sin and heal our land.