Donation and Support, Seed

DONATION, SUPPORT AND SEED SOWING Routing number (ACH) 103913434 Routing number (Wire) 103913434 Recipient's bank name MICHEAL IHEANYICHUKWU BONIFACE Account number 123832881651 Account type Checking INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS SWIFT code BBOKUS44 Bank name ABA Routing # 021000018 Recipient name Regent Bank Recipient account number Transaction note/memo must include FFC: MICHEAL IHEANYICHUKWU BONIFACE & 123832881651 account number

Tuesday, 28 January 2025

How to Repent


How to Repent


If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)


A vague, bad feeling that you are a crummy person is not the same as conviction for sin. Feeling rotten is not the same as repentance.


This morning I began to pray, and felt unworthy to be talking to the Creator of the universe. It was a vague sense of unworthiness. So I told him so. Now what?


Nothing changed until I began to get specific about my sins. Crummy feelings can be useful if they lead to conviction for specific sins. But vague feelings of being a bad person are not usually very helpful.


The fog of unworthiness needs to take shape into clear dark pillars of disobedience. Then you can point to them and repent and ask for forgiveness and take aim with your gospel bazooka to blow them up.


So I began to call to mind the commands I frequently break. These are the ones that came to mind.


Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Not 95%, but 100%. (Matthew 22:37)


Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Be as eager for things to go well for him as you are for things to go well for you. (Matthew 22:39)


Do all things without grumbling. No grumbling — inside or outside. (Philippians 2:14)


Cast all your anxieties on him — so you are not being weighed down by them anymore. (1 Peter 5:7)


Only say things that give grace to others — especially those closest to you. (Ephesians 4:29)


Redeem the time. Don’t fritter away the minutes, or dawdle. (Ephesians 5:16)


So much for any pretensions to great holiness! I’m undone.


This is much worse than vague, crummy feelings. Ah, but now the enemy is visible. The sins are specific. They’ve come out of hiding. I look them in the eye. I’m not whining about feeling crummy. I’m apologizing to Christ for not doing specific things that he commanded.


I’m broken, and I’m angry at my sin. I want to kill it, not me. I’m not suicidal. I’m a sin-hater and a sin-murderer. (“Put to death what is earthly in you,” Colossians 3:5; “Put to death the deeds of the body,” Romans 8:13.) I want to live. That’s why I’m a killer — of my sin!


In this conflict, I hear the promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Peace rises. 


Now, prayer feels possible and right and powerful again.


By at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Featured post

“You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” (Matthew 27:65) When Jesus was dead and buried, with a big stone rolled against the tomb, the Pharisees came to Pilate and asked for permission to seal the stone and guard the tomb. They gave it their best shot — in vain. It was hopeless then, it is hopeless today, and it will always be hopeless. Try as they may, people can’t keep Jesus down. They can’t keep him buried. It’s not hard to figure out: He can break out because he wasn’t forced in. He let himself be libeled and harassed and blackballed and scorned and shoved around and killed. I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. (John 10:17–18) No one can keep him down because no one ever knocked him down. He lay down when he was ready. When it looks like he is buried for good, Jesus is doing something awesome in the dark. “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how” (Mark 4:26–27). The world thinks Jesus is done for — out of the way — but Jesus is at work in the dark places. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). He let himself be buried — “no one takes [my life] from me” — and he will come out in power when and where he pleases — “I have authority to take it up again.” “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Jesus has his priesthood today “by the power of an indestructible life” (Hebrews 7:16). For twenty centuries, the world has given it their best shot — in vain. They can’t bury him. They can’t hold him in. They can’t silence him or limit him. Jesus is alive and utterly free to go and come wherever he pleases. Trust him and go with him, no matter what. You cannot lose in the end.

 You Cannot Lose in the End “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” (Matthew 27:65) When Jesus was dead and buried...

  • Prayer for Financial Breakthrough
     Today, we're praying for financial breakthroughs. Some people are working like an Elephant but are eating like ant. Any power hindering...
  • Prayer for the Fruit of the Womb
     Today, we're praying for the fruit of the womb. God's word have confirmed it. Fruitfulness to all ramifications. I pray you be frui...
  • Prayer for God's Forgiveness
     Prayer for God's Forgiveness Today, we're praying for God's forgiveness. The devil always uses the guilt of our sin to deny us ...