Repentence Is Not a One Time Event- Part 2

God's grace is an unconditional grace, not totally understood by human means of understanding, and that grace does change us when we realize it and receive. This grace is so awesome, it can cause us to only take advantage of it, but that should not be the result of receiving this awesome grace. The result should be us more submitted to God's will and giving up our will in the process. Paul wrote to the church at Rome about receiving this grace in Roman 6: 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

The intent of this grace is to free us from living a life of "death" and surrender our lives to a life of freedom that is made possible by God's grace. Sin no longer has dominion over us, and God's grace is applied to keep that fresh relationship to be what God intended. The realization that Jesus died so that we might live changes us at our heart level, or at our will. The human will is a strong thing, and the born-again process that happens when we surrender to Jesus replaces a natural man with a spiritual man. We then view everything from a spiritual viewpoint. Paul explained this to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 2:

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?    Who knows enough to teach him?”But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

We can grasp all of this because of the Holy Spirit in us, and we can also grasp that it takes repentance to surrender our will again and again to the Lord, and God's grace keeps that road open, without holding back. Abundance! When we sin, and we are gonna sin, God's grace brings us back to the place we need to be in. That sin is forgiven, forgotten, and it causes us to come back to this life that Jesus has given us, and we continue in the process of sanctification. The accuser, satan, will try to drag us into a guilt-ridden or death way of living, but God's grace is sufficient to thwart what he tries to do. In this process, our will or want to change back to wanting to follow Jesus, and the enemy hates this. Why? Because He is the accuser of the brethren or us. Revelation 12 calls him out: Revelation 12:10 For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

He accuses sometimes through other humans, and sometimes human Christians, who are badly deceived. The change of our will back to the will of the Father sets us back on track in our faith walk, and God continues to use us for His glory. I cannot outdo God's grace because His grace is more powerful as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Chronicles 7 tells of what our attitude should be since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Solomon was dedicating the physical temple to the Lord, and the Lord told him the following in 2 Chronicles 7: 12 Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices.13 At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.

God continues to forgive us and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to a better way of living in the freedom of God's grace and repentance is a part of the process. If you are running from God's will today, repent (or turn around) and turn back to God. His grace is waiting.

Today's Message,

David Warren