“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you” (Jeremiah 5:25).
Let’s open our hearts and acknowledge our sins. Sin hinders God’s blessings; it separates us from His presence and true love.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love: according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:1-3).
God is much pleased with wholehearted repentance. We will be free from guilt and face God with much confidence and humility.
“Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them” (Jeremiah 15:19).
God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, forgives all our sins, but we hesitate to forgive one another. The more grudges we have on one another, the further we go away from the Lord and His blessings.
It’s difficult to please the Lord without wholehearted repentance.
One brother used to speak in tongues. The pastor of that mega church to which this brother belongs did not have the gift of discernment. This brother used to have hiccups. And it was so loud that he used to disturb the entire church. One Sunday service he disturbed a lot, so the pastor came down from the pulpit and put his hand on this brother, and this brother laughed aloud, and the spirit in him revealed all the sins of the pastor. He was heavily possessed. So pastors and prophets feared to pray for him.
This brother was a ruffian. He used to walk around the market area with a big sword in his hand, and he used to collect money from every shopkeeper and business owner. This went on for many years. He was popular even among the police force.
It so happened that one day someone gave two bananas to his mother and asked her to give them to him. This man ate one and gave the other to his child. There was witchcraft in it, and from that day he started to have hiccups. Everyone used to fear him; that was the kind of possession. He spent a lot of money on medicine, but nothing happened. He started seeking God, and someone had given my sister’s contact number. He used to call my sister and get himself prayed for. We called him home.
My sister had a very powerful gift of discernment; she bound the tongues that he was speaking, for he had evil tongues. I and my sister started praying for him, and when I put my hand on him, he said it was burning and felt the fire of the Lord. He was rolling, screaming and vomiting. For six days we prayed for him. God forgave all his sins. delivered him, and anointed him. Now he is a prophet. God is using him mightily.
Miracles never happen when the minister of God has a grudge on anyone or expresses anger at any flesh and if he has not repented wholeheartedly. God is very merciful, but while doing deliverance ministry, one has to have a clean, holy, and perfect heart.
The thoughts and the deeds are open to the Heaven and Hell.
Once a pastor fought with his wife before leaving home. In a fit of anger, he left home and drove recklessly. He met with an accident and died on the spot. He has been serving the Lord for several years. His spirit was before the Lord. And the Lord was not pleased that he fought with his wife. Wholehearted repentance and the Lord’s forgiveness are two of the basic criteria to enter Heaven. God is very merciful; He sent the pastor’s soul back to his body to repent and ask forgiveness from his wife. God is good; He is our Father, and He wants perfection in every soul. He corrects each and every one. He creates situations whereby we learn our mistakes and accept them to reform ourselves.
One cannot proceed further in the Lord or in the ministry with an unforgiving heart. It will destroy one’s peace.
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire; Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:22,23,24).
Repentance is the key to unlock the Lord’s blessings. Repentance and Reconciliation will replenish and refresh your soul.
Forgive our sins as we forgiver those who sin against us.
One’s life will be ruined by guilt about sin. It will increase our misery and weed out our joy. The relationship we have built over the years with God is severed by sin, which stands between us and God. It is very painful for God.
“For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalms 149:4).
Only the meek will repent. Pride will not bow. Pride will not kneel. Pride will never pray.
Kneel and bow in meekness, or raise your hands and surrender to the most merciful Father, and His heart will melt.
God hates the contentious and argumentative spirit and the spirit of wrath.
God will forgive. But He is seas of anger; repeated sins by a minister of God will provoke His anger, and He will surely punish in order to correct. But Satan will mock and put the minister of God to shame.
You might be the best singer or a musician in your choir or a popular leader among the members of your congregation, and you might attend the church with the best of your attire during every service, but if you have not pleased God, you will end up in hell. God sees your heart, your thoughts, your eyes and your deeds.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
Repent and Reconcile with God, let your soul replenish refresh and be revitalised.
You can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens you with physical strength, spiritual strength and financial strength.