How To Repent and Turn Back to God

It is important that we learn how to deal with sin quickly and correctly so that we are not cut off from God’s presence. David learned the secret to maintaining a holy and close walk with God: he learned to repent.

The words repent, repentance, and repented are mentioned over 100 times in the Bible. There has been a lot of misunderstanding and confusion over what the word repentance means. When the word repent is used in the Word of God in the context of Biblical salvation, it is referring to a truly God-given, Spirit-led change of heart and mind toward God about sin.

How to repent:

• Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart and point out specific sin or deeds worthy of repentance.

• Take time to contemplate the full extent of your wrongdoing rather than simply looking at a small portion of the sin.

• Hate the sin, loathe it—Ask God for true sorrow over what you have done – see it as He sees it—take on God’s point of view. Change your mind about the sin.

• Don’t concentrate on your pardon, but rather the restoration of holiness and full communion with God.

• Recognize that repentance is entirely beyond your power to accomplish—invite the Holy Spirit into the process of repentance.

• Ask the Lord to forgive you.

• Receive His forgiveness.

• Forgive yourself.

• Worship—return to the presence of God with joy.

• Walk in a different direction with full assurance of communion with God.

Ps. 32:1-2 A psalm of David. Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is

forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

51:1–14

Repentance is not:

• Reformation—turning over a new leaf.

• Remorse—regretting the fruit of the sin, but not the root of the sin. We fear the suffering and consequences our sin brings us.

• Penitence—the act of trying to make up for sin. We cannot pay for our sin in order to be free from it.

Check out the 7 fruits of repentance – if you see these in your life, you know you have repented:

2Cor. 7:10-11 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence (earnestness) it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear (reverence), what vehement desire (passion), what zeal (readiness to punish wrongdoers), what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

More on Repentance: HERE and HERE and HERE