Lesson 1 Introduction and Why Repent More Fully

Transcription

1 You Can Taste Heaven Now! The WorkBook Barry Hall 2000 Overview of the course. 1. Introduction and why repent more fully p What repentance is and what it is not. p Where to focus for repentance. p How to change how to repent. p What to repent from. p Diagrams that help us understand. p Preventing and Correcting Causes of Human Conflict p Pain, Isolation, and Change p Heart-set, Resting, and the H-t Promise p steps for repentance in everyday life. p Why you can draw near to God. p How to draw near to God. p Why you can drink from God. p How to drink from God (Incomplete) p Practical Issues About Motivation (Incomplete). Our Need for God All people everywhere have a driving spiritual need for the presence of God. King David wrote that his soul was thirsty and his body yearned for God (Psa. 63:1). That David s body yearned for God means that David longed for the presence of God. The need we have for God s presence is one that largely goes unmet. Normally, we try to meet this need, not with God, but with earthly things such as our job, human relationships or other pleasures. It a sad thing to say, but I think this is true even for most Christians no matter where they go to church. Lesson 1 Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Your assignment this week is to read this weeks lesson and the next. Also... Answer the questions for both sections. Also... Do the Heart-training assignments at the end of each weeks lesson. Our attempts to meet our need for God apart from Him result in an abundance of misdirected pursuits, unwanted behaviors, discontent, unnecessary inner pain, and sin. All of this combines with a sense of disappointment with God and shame that drives us even further from Him. Our unmet longing for God is the driving force behind all our earthly pursuits and our independence from God. Therefore, we have to think of dealing with the problem in a context of actually filling our desire for God s presence. Rather than wait for God to fix our spiritual problems, we need to take steps to remove the obstacles so we can enjoy God s presence. God is waiting for us. God is waiting until we repent in ways that help us find freedom to let Him be intensely close to us. Repentance and the Presence of God It was to believers in the church at Ephesis that God said, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent (Rev. 2:4b). Like them, we too have left our love for God. Our greatest love has become that of filling our desires by earthly means. Like the Ephesian church we 1

2 too must repent. The Bible says we should, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). Biblical repentance results in greater freedom from sin and the presence of God. Rather than quenching our thirst by sinful and inadequate means, repentance helps us to turn to God and quench our thirst with Him. It isn t repentance if it doesn t help you find greater freedom from sin and also help you to experience the presence of God. The Promise The Bible says, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit... (John 7:37-39a). Introduction and Why Repent More Fully It also says, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus...let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:19,22). We can come to Jesus by entering the holy place. We can drink from God by having our hearts and our bodies washed just because of our being near to God. We can experience a river of the Holy Spirit flowing out from us. These things are true. Repentance will help you. Discussion Question: Why do you think Christians struggle to experience God as these verses describe? List some earthly ways we feed ourselves. How do these decrease our hunger for God? Defining our Terms In biblical terms, repentance is about changing your mind. But I use the word repentance in a broader sense than the strict definition. I do that because repentance is the word that most accurately describes what you get when you try to fit everything together that the Bible says about growth toward God. Repentance is about turning and facing toward God. It is about changing your mind in terms of how you quench your thirst from earthly things to the presence of God. It is in that sense that I am saying we should repent. Repentance is much more than just what you do after you do something wrong. Think of repentance as a process of changing your mind about anything that keeps you from drawing closer to God. Repentance removes obstacles between you and God. It is also about changing your mind in ways that decrease your tendency to turn away from God. The repentance that is most effective is that which is preventative. In that sense, repentance as a biblical practice is an activity that describes something you can do 2

3 for great personal and spiritual growth. When repentance becomes preventative, your outward behavior improves because of a simple response to the changes in what your heart is believing and loving. You can change! You just have to become an effective teacher and your own heart has to become your best student. Think of repentance as a process of continually of changing your mind by calming your fears and building your faith. But please note that the steps you take have to be specific! Your heart has to learn to believe that it is right, good, and safe to turn from earthly ways of living and turn to God. The obstacles have to be removed so that you find freedom to draw near to God. Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Why does repentance have to focus on changing how we quench our thirst? Repentance helps you die to self. But when the focus is rightly placed on turning and actually drawing near to God, it is a dying that doesn t have to be nearly as painful as you might think. Begin now to think of repentance as a delightful process of removing obstacles and continually drawing nearer to God. This book is for showing you how. Without Forgetting We Are Human It would be easy to say that we should turn from our earthly ways because it is right. And, we should. Repentance honors God. God is holy. We should be holy too. Most of us already know that. The problem is that for all we know, we don t seem to be getting on with the process of directing our heart toward God. In general, knowing that repentance is right, and even that we should obey, just isn t enough reason for us to get around to doing it. Therefore, it is time we take an approach that is more consistent with where we are as people. Consider the reactions of two different groups of people when they consider repentance for themselves. One group is concerned about how much they would have to give up in order to be really close to God. The other group says, Just tell me how. The Bible says, Be zealous and repent (Rev. 3:19). Yet, before we can do that we have to address the concerns of the first group of people above. We have to think about repentance on an everyday level. Before we buy anything and long before we do anything whole-heartedly we always want to know, What is in it for us? Turning to God is like that, If God is asking me to turn from my earthly ways, I want to know what I get out of the deal. From a human perspective, it is reasonable to think of repentance in this way. We are human. Therefore, this concern must be considered acceptable and addressed honestly. I was more like the second group. I felt willing to pay any price and even became frustrated when people didn t tell me how. Even so, when I thought of wanting to experience God more fully I often had feelings of hopelessness and despair. Doubts nagged about whether experiencing God was realistic for me personally. If this also 3

4 describes you, then you need more hope. Freedom to run toward repentance will be prevented by your doubts about realistically being able to experience God as you desire. Doubts at this level are like roadblocks between us and God: the obstacle of doubt has to be removed and replaced with faith. Even so, we first have to start with confident hope. Before we can talk about the specifics of how to turn our heart toward God, you need stronger reasons to be confident that experiencing God intensely, is both realistic and reasonable for you personally. He who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land And will possess My holy mountain. And it will be said, Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people (Isa. 57:13,14). Introduction and Why Repent More Fully In other words, the way to turn to God requires that we remove the obstacles that rob us of freedom to take refuge in the presence of the Lord. At times, the obstacles that keep us away from God can seem like mountains. Yet, when we turn to God because of His grace, even mountains are removed. The Bible says, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of Grace, grace to it! (Zech. 4:6,7). Therefore, the first step toward making repentance practical is to establish the grace of God as the reason you can move forward without hesitation and with great zeal. The grace of God is His overwhelming tendency to give. By considering repentance because of God s grace, the concerns of both groups are addressed. In Accordance with Grace Anytime we talk about God s grace we must also, of necessity, talk about what we receive. When we turn away from our earthly ways, what do we receive? What we receive is the presence of God (Acts 3:19). It is the grace of God that guarantees our being able to experience His presence being given to us freely. By taking steps to find freedom to trust God s grace and draw near to Him, you can experience God s presence anywhere, anytime, as much as you find freedom to receive. The price of repentance is like no price at all in comparison to what we receive: Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance (Isa. 55:1,2). We can trade in our broken down lives for an abundance of His presence. Like the verse says, that is like buying without any cost. The promise of being able to experience God intensely, by His grace, gives us great reason to be zealous about repentance. Why is it wise to repent according to grace? 4

5 God designed us as desperately needy people. If our motive for repentance isn t based on what God gives freely because of His grace, then we will always be the ones holding back. Because of grace, the most important topic of repentance isn t about what we have to give up. It is about what we receive. The grace of God is about what He gives. If we don t consider turning to God because of what He offers freely then we will always feel insecure and full of fear. We will just keep on running the other way and hiding. We need to repent and turn to God because our tendency is to trust anything and everything except the Lord. His response is to wait until He can be gracious to us. Introduction and Why Repent More Fully For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength. But you were not willing, And you said, No, for we will flee on horses, Therefore you shall flee! And we will ride on swift horses, Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill. Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him (Isa. 30:15-18). On a practical level, it is by repentance and rest that we are able to experience quietness and trust in God. When we don t live this way, we suffer many fears, insecurities, attacks from the evil one. Rather than being strong in the presence of the Lord, we flee. God wants to be gracious to you. He wants to be close enough to you that you don t have to trust your own strength. He is waiting. God s grace can make us willing to move forward. Of Our Selfishness and God s Grace Grace is the opposite of selfishness. God is a giving God. He is not selfish. Ever. But, quite frankly, we are selfish enough that it is almost impossible for us to think about God being as giving as He is. Concerning His presence, we actually think He should hold back. In this case, His grace just doesn t compute. In the thinking of many Christians, to consider simply turning to God and receiving His presence is almost unthinkable. It is like we think it would be wrong for God to be that gracious and giving. We live according to the flesh much more than we realize. God never stops being gracious toward us, His children. It is because of our disbelief concerning the presence of God, that we keep Him from being gracious toward us. Much in our thinking needs to change. It is not selfish to consider turning to God because of His grace. We have to consider repentance in keeping with the fact that we are human. What is the payback for repentance for us and for God? 5

6 We still have to talk about separating ourselves from sin and dying to our earthly ways of trusting. Even so, everything changes the moment we commit to repentance in a context of God s grace. Grace makes it so that we don t have to talk about turning from our earthly ways as though the only reason we should turn is because it is right. Grace makes it right to talk about how turning to God is better for us! In keeping with the fact that we are human, it is by reason of God s grace, and our concern about what is in it for us, that surging forward in repentance will become desirable to you. Purity by His Grace Considering repentance in keeping with our humanity does not mean we forget about the need for purity before God. Purity is paramount. Finding freedom to draw near to God requires that we experience a purity that, quite frankly, is beyond the experience of most Christians. The Bible says, Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully (Ps. 24:3,4). In order for us to experience what this verse is talking about we have to come at it in accordance with grace. Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Purity becomes practical when we meet our need for the presence of God. Our proneness toward sin is driven by a tension created by our unmet need for the nearness of God. Rather than soothe and reassure ourselves by sinful means, we can be reassured with the presence of God. Rather than fill ourselves from the rebellious power we feel in sin, we can direct our affections toward God and quench our thirsty desires with the Holy Spirit. Being pure before the Lord applies to more than just our behavior. We also need the cleansing of God. Meeting our need for the presence of God requires that we enter the throne room of God and draw near to the Lord. The beauty of God s plan is that He cleanses us in the process of our drawing near to Him (Heb. 10:19,22). Let me talk briefly at this point about shame. Drawing near to God can powerfully dissolve your shame away. The course is for helping you to repent in ways that give you freedom to allow God to washing the inadequacies of your humanity. By learning to draw near and drink from God, His presence will become what you trust as your adequacy. Now let s get back to our discussion about purity. Purity in our behavior has far more to do with how much we enjoying the soothing reassurance of the Holy Spirit than it does with doing or not doing certain activities. When you are actually quenching your thirst with God, sin becomes less attractive and you have the strength you need to say, No, when temptation comes. Where does purity come from? You don t have to come to the place where you believe you are perfect! If you think you do, then you need to take assertive steps to direct your faith to rest on God as your perfection and not on yourself. Direct your heart away from trusting earthly sources or yourself as your confidence and security, then you should let yourself be confident that God wants you to enter and draw near! 6

7 God s Part and Ours Being able to repent is a gift from God. The Bible talks about God grants repentance (2 Tim. 2:25). But while repentance is a gift from God it is not a gift that He holds back. Jesus was put to death on the cross and was raised up to the right hand of the Father in order to grant repentance and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:30,31). Just like salvation, God offers repentance and forgiveness freely, to any who will receive it. Ask God and trust Him to give it without holding back. God grants repentance. But it is to us that the Bible says, repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20b). Don t wait for God to do your repentance for you! The responsibility for repentance is on us. It is to God s people that the Bible says, Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. (Eze. 14:6). Another place it says, return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods...from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you... (1 Sam. 7:3). It doesn t say to wait for God to do it. God tells us to repent! It is important to understand that it is only God who can make us grow. But the apostle Paul helps us to keep it in perspective when he said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. (1 Cor. 3:6). God causes the growth, but we are the ones who need to do the planting and the watering. We have to do our part. You have a vital role in how much you grow in the Lord! It is time to accept more of that responsibility. Bible reading and prayer are vital to the Christian life, so is repentance! Repentance is important for salvation. But a lifestyle of repentance is vital for continued growth toward God. Jesus told us the most important command in all the Bible is that,...the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:29-30). But the Bible also says, But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first... (Rev. 2:4,5). Repentance is what helps you love God more. Why do you think we prefer to pray and wait for God to do our repenting for us than to do what the Bible says ourselves. Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Are you feeling doubt about whether Biblical repentance will work for you? Fears are common at this point. You are not alone. But truth is truth. What the Bible says about how to grow will work for you. Do you have a better option than to let your heart believe the scriptures? This course will show you how to calm your fears and direct your heart toward God. For now, try to accept your insecurities and fears as part of your pilgrimage toward greater closeness to God. I am sorry it is hard. I wish it weren t that way but you can work through this! Accepting responsibility for repentance is not an option. Jesus told us, Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27). Carry your cross by accepting your responsibility to continually direct your heart toward God. It is because our heart is so prone to wander that repentance has to become a natural part of every day. Our responsibility is to change our mind by planting the truth in our heart and 7

8 watering it! Think of repentance as what you can do that prepares your heart so that God is better able to change you. Think of repentance as directing your heart toward God in such a way that your most natural reaction is to run toward God and love Him more. The Bible says,...train yourself to be godly (1 Tim. 4:7 NIV). Doing so should be at the very core of how you live your Christian life. God will do His part! He is waiting until you do yours. Assumption The word of God is true. Therefore, we can draw near to God and He will draw near to us (James 4:8). We can enter before the Lord and drink by faith in the grace of God to quench our thirst. We can quench our thirst with rivers of living water. (John 7:37-39a). Are you thirsty for God? These promises are for you. The Bible tells us how when it says that,...he who comes to God must believe...that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:6). You can drink from God. You can do what the Bible says and...come to the waters...delight yourself in abundance (Isa. 55:1,2). What Has to Change Since we receive the Holy Spirit by faith (Gal. 3), our repentance has to help us believe we can quench our thirst by drawing near to God and receiving the Holy Spirit. We struggle to believe God can and will quench our thirst because we receive glory from earthly sources. Jesus explained, How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? (John 5:44). Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Can you agree with this statement? God can quench my thirst and I am going to learn how. Circle what you think. Yes No Other. Explanation below. The extent to which we turn from receiving glory from earthly sources is the degree to which we have freedom to believe God, draw near, and drink from Him. Your job is to repent in ways that help you to believe God and act on that belief by drawing near and drinking from Him. My job is to show you how. Benefits of Repentance Repentance is so that you find freedom from unwanted and sinful behaviors, damaging pursuits, harmful reactions, long term addictions, co-dependence. Because of the refreshing from God (Acts 3:19), repentance can eliminate your need to depend on earthly sources that have hurt you so often in the past. You still get hurt, but repentance helps you find healing by soothing yourself with God. Repentance even gives an ever increasing freedom from subtle sins of the heart. But that isn't all. The Bible says, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14). The benefits of repentance are great. When God s people on a broad scale repent and turn to seek His face, God will heal our land by the refreshing we experience from His presence! The big picture is that God must be allowed to dwell more intensely with we who are His church 24 hours-a-day. We are the ones holding back. The issue before us is that we need to cooperate with God more fully. Repentance will help. By repenting so as to experience God's presence, your single-hearted love and devotion toward God will increase greatly. God will have a child who cooperates with 8

9 Him more fully. Your purity will increase because you are feeding on God and not on earthly sources. Your worship will be less hindered because of greater delight toward God. Testimonies from people who have been applying these things? The REASONABLE GOAL for This Course Jesus said we should abide like a branch with Him in us and us in Him (John 15:4). The goal for this course is to give understanding and tools for personal use and for ministry to others that help you remove the obstacles so you can turn from earthly sources, enter before God, stay in His presence, and drink from Him 24 hours-a-day. Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Note the goal is a process, something we have to keep on doing. The goal is not any specific spiritual experience with God. What do I want out of this course? Beware You are going to grow faster in the next few months than you ever thought was possible. The danger is pride. The great tendency will be to satisfy yourself with each new level of spiritual experience. Rather than continuing to feed on God you will want to turn and feed yourself with the manifestation. Don t do it! If you define success in terms of manifestations and experiences with God you will want to drop out of the course because you will think you have arrived. Beware. 9

10 What verses of scripture did God use to speak to me? What do I need to start applying because of this weeks lesson? Introduction and Why Repent More Fully Heart-training Assignment Even though we haven t talked about the Heart-training book I want to give you an assignment. Your assignment for this week is on pages 18-21; Hearing and Believing the Truth About God. Read through these pages out loud 1-2 times this week. Do your best to speak with delight and joy as you read. Concentrate on listening to what you are saying. That is what will help to move truth from your head down into your heart. A Special Note About Heart-training Heart-training can feel a little strange at first. That is because the heart-training statements aren t written as prayers to God. They are written for your own ears. Speaking to your own heart is necessary because that is much more effective for helping you to turn to God. Many thousands of hours are into the development and use of the heart-training material. I found out early that if I speak my heart-training as prayer to God it doesn t work. It is just too easy for us to ignore the important process of actually turning and facing toward God. Prayer to God is prayer to God. Repentance is for your own heart. It will work best if you use the statements to speak first to your own heart and secondarily to God. God will be listening as you do your heart-training and He will be loving it. Just be sure to keep your focus listening to what you are saying. 10

11 Repentance Is NOT About What We Loose! Jesus said, Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27). What do you think of when you read that verse? Some people read a verse like that and think that repentance is about being morbid and introspective. That isn t Biblical repentance at all! Read 2 Cor. 4:10 and write down the goal of dying to self. Is it a goal for heaven or for here and now? Lesson 2 What Repentance Is and What it is NOT Dying to self isn t the goal of repentance. Yes we are to carry our cross, but doing that is so that the life of Jesus can be manifested in us. Let me remind you again that the Bible says, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). The reachable goal of repentance is the presence of God for here and now. Thank You Lord! I delight that I don t have to hold back from repentance because what I loose is nothing in comparison to what I get in return! Jesus said, For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it Repentance is necessary for salvation that lets us find eternal life. But repentance is also about turning to drink from the fountain of life because that is how we are able to experience the refreshing from God s presence (Psa. 36:7-9). Repentance that lets you drink from God is fun! Continually carrying your cross is the price you get to pay in trade for enjoying God s presence instead of the earthly sources that don t satisfy! Hear what the Bible says, Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance (Isa. 55:1,2). Repentance is where you trade being bound to depending on what doesn t satisfy for the right and privilege of satisfying yourself with God s presence by His grace. That is why it says come, buy...without cost. Lord I delight that I don t have to be afraid of repentance. I can come to You and I can delight myself in abundance. At first, repentance may feel like you are carrying a cross on a path toward a frightening and horrible death. That is because you haven t yet made the transfer from faith in what you think you have to achieve, to faith in the grace of God. Repentance isn t about what you loose! Trying to drink from earthly sources hurts us, destroys relationships, and are totally inadequate to fill us. What we are trading in is nothing in comparison to being able to delight ourselves in an abundance of the refreshing presence of God. 11

12 List some unsatisfying and damaging ways we try to quench our thirst apart from God. List these things while thinking that these are what you get to trade for being able to draw near and drink from God by His grace. What Repentance Is and What it is NOT Before long, the dying part of repentance will be fun to you. You will come to understand experientially, that repentance is fun because you get to enjoy the refreshing of God s presence by His grace. Repentance is NOT about what we loose. What your are having to give up only hurts you anyway. Right? So don t be sad and gloomy. Repentance is worth being happy about. Repent because of grace. What is in it for God? Repentance is a good deal for God too. We turn from idolatrous ways of trying to quench our thirst and God becomes our God. Think of the wisdom of God in how He set this up! Lord thank You that You are so wise! I love that I can honor you by my depending on You to quench my thirst. You are my God! God designed us so that we have no choice. Our thirst is so strong that we have to depend on God or the gods of this world. Repentance makes God your God. By coming to the Lord and trading in the little gods that hurt you so much, you get to purchase the right to drink from God without cost and by His grace. We get the presence of God as what quenches our thirst and God gets to be God to us 24 hoursa-day. Our dependence on Him to quench our thirst is a good deal for God because our dependence on Him is worship. Being needy and drinking from God honors Him! How willing am I trade in my earthly ways of trying to quench my thirst in order to drink from God by His grace? Circle what you think: Totally willing. Not willing. Not sure yet. Want to be willing but don t know how yet. Praise Instead of Despair When Jesus was in the temple He read this out of the book of Isaiah as prophecy about Himself, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18,19). 12

13 The very next verse in the Old Testament after what Jesus read is this, To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isa. 61:3). Everything about this course is for helping you to become, oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. To do that captives need to be released and the oppressed need to be set free to draw near to the Lord. In order for you to stay planted near Him you must be given a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. Some translations call it, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Moving from being an oppressed captive to an oak of righteousness means you have to change. Thanks and praise for the truth is what will help you make that change. You don t have to be hopeless and despairing about ever being an oak of righteousness. Will you let me give you a garment of praise? Thanks and praise for the truth will help you make the trade from a spirit of fainting, hopelessness, and despair to a continual refreshing from the presence of God. I agree that there is hope for me. I can change by getting my heart to hear, believe, and love the truth. I agree that I can train my heart to trade in my earthly ways of trying to quench my thirst in order to drink from God by His grace. Circle what you think: I totally agree with this statement. I don t agree. I am not sure yet. I want to agree but don t know how yet. What Repentance Is and What it is NOT Thank You Lord that I don t have to settle for hopelessness and despair. I turn from fainting about being able to change. Heart hear and believe that I CAN be an oak of righteousness who is planted in God s presence. I can repent I CAN change by giving my heart reasons to hear and believe the truth! Repentance is Not by Self-Condemnation Some Christians seem to think that repentance has to do with self-condemnation. It is easy to feel this way because of how self-righteous condemnation can make you feel. That may be the only solution you currently know, but that kind of repentance is too simplistic, ineffective, unhealthy spiritually, and just plain wrong. When you sin how do you react? How long is it before you let yourself believe the forgiveness of God. The Bible says,...the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10). We should feel sorrow because of sin, but God s will is a repentance that is without regret. How are you trying to improve by making yourself feel regret? Your repentance should not be one of trying to correct your behavior by self-directed condemnation. Look up the word regret in and English Dictionary. Write the definition here. 13

14 Observe your reaction to when you do something wrong. Do you stay away from God? What gives you freedom to draw near to God again? Are you trusting the forgiveness of God because you made yourself feel bad for long enough? You should be trusting the forgiveness of God because of faith in the power of the cross and the cleansing of God. Motivating change by making yourself feel regret may be the only way you know how to repent. But that kind of repentance is not God s will! You should not be trying to improve yourself by making yourself feel bad because of what you do wrong. Even though you may not know how to change by any other means, it must be a repentance without regret. What Repentance Is and What it is NOT Thank You Lord! I delight that I don t have to change by selfcondemnation. When you want to change do you work even harder at making yourself feel bad about what you did wrong? Motivating improvement by self-contempt is a works approach to repentance. Grace is far more effective. It changes you much more deeply and it lasts longer too. The Bible says that...the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God (James 1:20). Growth by self-directed anger only builds faith in what you can achieve. It keeps you bent on earning a sense of right standing before God. Repentance by regret prevents you from putting our faith in suffering of Christ and the pain He felt on your behalf. Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people... (Matthew 23:13; see also 2 Cor 3:17). When you try to motivate repentance and change by condemnation you are being pharisaical and are shutting yourself and others from the freedom necessary for experiencing closeness to God. You are also shutting yourself down inside from being able to receive the kingdom like a child. Lord I delight that I don t have to condemn myself into improving. Underlying any philosophy of ministry is a belief about how to best help people grow. It is true toward other people it is also true toward ourselves. The Bible refers to the old covenant of the law as a, ministry of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9). It also says that, the ministry of condemnation has glory (2 Cor. 3:9a). How does treating ourselves with condemnation have glory? How much glory is it compared to the glory of God? I turn from feeding myself by how religious I feel when I make myself feel bad. You are my God and I will feed myself with You not with myself. 14

15 Trying to help ourselves grow by a ministry of condemnation seems religious because it has an appearance of glory. But, in contrast, it also says, For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. (2 Cor. 3:10). Paul asks, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? (2 Cor. 3:8). If you are demanding that you repent by self-condemnation you are trying to change in a way that is according to the law and works of the flesh. In contrast the Bible tells us, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses (Acts 13:39). Repentance based on works is bondage. Repentance based on grace makes you free! Making yourself feel bad about what you have done wrong may punish you into a temporary appearance of outward conformity, but it does nothing to help change your behavior long term. The Bible says,...the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement...are of no value against fleshly indulgence. (Col. 2:23). Repentance by regret is self-abasement and is of no value against fleshly indulgence! Hear it: change that results from self-directed put downs is of no value toward helping you repent. Believe it because that is what the Bible says. Why does self-abasement and self-condemnation feel religious? Lesson 2 What Repentance Is and What it is NOT I turn to You Lord. I turn from faith in how well I earn Your forgiveness and I rest into confident faith in You to forgive me freely. Greater severity in your self-condemnation may feel religious, but it is not God s will for you to grow that way. Making yourself feel bad for what you do wrong is self-made religion because the pain we feel seems to justify our wrong doing. No amount of feeling bad will ever make the payment or justify what you have done wrong. Self-inflicted pain from guilt doesn t justify you before God because, God is the one who justifies (Rom. 8:33b)! List some reasons why, I should repent from trying to change by selfcondemnation. If you feel this section has been talking to you then you are going to have to take steps to retrain your heart what to believe is the best way to correct your behavior so that you can do better next time. If there is only one rule I could give you about changing according to grace it would be this: You have to learn to delight to die to a ministry of condemnation toward yourself. I love that I can change from the heart. Hearing the truth and believing it is a much more effective way to do better. 15

16 Self-condemnation won t ever produce righteous living. Decide now to consider it sin to feel any sense of justification or righteousness because of how much pain you feel from self-condemnation or self-inflicted guilt. Repent of how you have been trying to repent! Directing your heart away from self-condemnation should be ruthless, strongly assertive, and unbending. Long standing habits can change. But that isn t going to happen just because you know something new in your head. If you are one who tries to repent by condemnation, you need to keep reading, but eventually you will need to come back to this section and read it several times. Repetition is part of what will help change you from the heart. When you catch yourself doing something wrong, ask for forgiveness as you need to, but do so without self-condemnation. Thrill your heart into trusting the power of the cross of Christ. You have to learn to react with delight to repent. Condemnation only keeps you in bondage. It makes you cower and close up inside and prevents you from being able to receive God s presence. Self-condemnation should have no place in any Christians life. If you sin turn to God, let Him wash you, and trust His forgiveness. Consider self-condemnation as sin. God is judge. Leave that to Him. God wants you to have confidence before Him. The Bible says, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God (1 John 3:21). Leaving selfcondemnation behind is part of your finding confidence to draw near to God and drink from Him. You don t have to change that way! What Repentance Is and What it is NOT Rejoice your heart into believing that I don t owe it to God to condemn myself in order to change. Changing the beliefs and loves of my heart will make change much more effective. If even mild forms of self condemnation is how you try to repent and grow, I want to tell you that you need to completely change the way you have been trying to change. This course will show you how. Of Fears and Turning to God An honest look at where we are compared to where we need to be reveals that many of us are dragging our feet trying to avoid moving forward in our walk with God. If thoughts of repentance and of turning to God fill you with fear, try to keep in mind that you are not alone. Many have the same feelings as you. Some are afraid that if they did try to repent and draw near to God, they might find out they were unacceptable for some reason and they wouldn t be able to bear that. Others are afraid that if they ever did succeed at being close to God, they wouldn t be able to maintain their spirituality. Their experience tells them they would only fall back into sin again. They have tried to repent many times, but have kept having the same problems with very little improvement. Long term inability to experience greater purity before the Lord has lead many to believe they don t deserve to be closer to God. Others are afraid that repentance means that God is asking them to give up something that He has no intention to replace here and now. This is not true! God offers you His presence freely and abundantly by His grace. I was afraid of all of these things. 16

17 How would you describe your fears about repentance and turning to God? Much of the reason for our fear goes back to our a deeply held belief that we should have to earn everything that we receive so much so that God s grace hardly makes sense to us. Believing we should have to deserve what we receive from God whether forgiveness, love, or His presence with us results in combinations of pride and fear that keep us distracted from God, pursuing earthly things, and also makes us afraid to be intimately close to the Lord. The resulting pride and fear keeps us living by faith in our own efforts to deserve what we receive from God and not by faith in His grace. But knowing this about us is not reason for self-condemnation. It is reason for repentance with great joy! Begin now to think of repentance as a process of patiently dealing with the reasons you hold back from God. You can learn to calm your fears with truth! You can experience God s presence here and now! You just need to repent in keeping with the grace of God and not by faith in your works. Think of repentance as continually making it easier and easier for you to turn and draw nearer to the Lord. Doing so, is much more effective and much less painful than trying to condemn yourself into improving. What What Repentance Is Is and and What What it it is is NOT NOT Your Heart-training assignment for this week... Rejoice your heart into believing that I can change the beliefs and loves of my heart that will give me freedom to draw near and drink from God. I don t have to be afraid because I can change. Decide now that you are going to use delight as a tool to calm your heart in to believing it is far safer to run toward God than to hold back. You may already know that in your head, but if you aren t doing it the reason is because your heart needs to believe it! From this weeks lesson what truth do I need to give my heart reasons to believe? Write your response in a heart-training statement. What verses of scripture did God use to speak to me? What do I need to start applying because of this weeks lesson? 17

18 Heart-training Assignment Your heart-training assignment for this week is two sections on pages 22-26; Trusting the Punishment Christ Took Upon Himself and Trusting the Forgiveness and Cleansing of God. Read these sections out loud 1-2 times this week. Read the statements with assertiveness and confidence. Give your heart reasons to hear. Make it your intention to listen to yourself. Just In Case You Missed it the First Time a Special Note About Heart-training I am repeating myself because this is important to understand in these early stages: Heart-training can feel a little strange at first. That is because the heart-training statements aren t written as prayers to God. They are written for your own ears. Speaking to your own heart is necessary because that is much more effective for helping you to turn to God. Many thousands of hours are into the development and use of the heart-training material. I found out early that if I speak my heart-training as prayer to God it doesn t work. It is just too easy for us to ignore the important process of actually turning and facing toward God. Prayer to God is prayer to God. Repentance is for your own heart. It will work best if you use the statements to speak first to your own heart and secondarily to God. God will be listening as you do your heart-training and He will be loving it. Just be sure to keep your focus listening to what you are saying. 18

19 Repentance Improves Our Behavior The Bible says,...they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance (Acts 26:20). Repentance that is biblical is effective for helping you become more godly in your behavior. But the direct focus of our repentance should not be on changing what we do! The repentance that changes your behavior best is that which focuses on changing the underlying and internal things that cause your behavior. This lesson is for helping you understand where you can best focus your effort and how you can repent. How do I react when I think about wanting to change? Are these reactions consistent with the truth? Lesson 3 Where to Focus for Repentance Of Knowing, Understanding, and Behavior The Bible says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6a). Knowing is important because that is where freedom from bondage begins. Jesus told us, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:32). It is by knowing the truth that you will find freedom to be able to turn to God. The apostle Paul wrote that it is only after we are filled with the knowledge of His will that we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:9b,10). What we know in our head is vital for being able to repent. Repentance starts with our head, but understanding is important too. The Bible says,...the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; so the people without understanding are ruined (Hosea 4:14). Do you want freedom from bondage to sin? Understand what the Bible says about how you can change. Knowledge and Understanding Aren t Enough Sometimes it is our mind that determines how we act. But those are times when you have time to think about the situation and decide how you are going to act before it occurs. Thank You Lord! I delight that I can know truth that makes me free. Heart hear this and be confident. I don t have to be settle for being destroyed by my lack of knowledge. I can change. Repentance will help me. More like these starting on p. 11 in the Heart-training book. What about when you react to people and circumstances in wrong ways? Sometimes we react so quickly that we don t have time to stop and think about what we are doing. Sinful reactions are the result of something deeper than our conscious mind. Your Heart and Behavior The Bible says,...the heart of man reflects man. (Pro. 27:19). Our heart has to change because unwanted behaviors, wrong attitudes, and sin are a reflection of our heart. 19

20 Jesus said,... his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart (Luke 6:45b). Jesus also told us,...everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Mat. 5:28). Sin happens in the heart before we see the affect in our behavior. Jesus wanted us to understand this principle. He also said, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within... (Mark 7:21-23a). Where to Focus for Repentance The principle I want you to understand is that all behavior, attitudes, and sin comes from what is in the heart. Any time we wander from God the reason is always the same, They always go astray in their heart... (Hebrews 3:10). If you want to repent even of reoccurring behavioral sin, your heart is by far the best place you can focus your effort not your outward behavior. Change the Beliefs of Your Heart It is common among Christians to think we have to apply our effort directly to our behavior in order to obey better. We think that the Christian life is something we have to do and that trying harder is what will help. There is a much better way. The message of John the Baptist was that everyone should, repent and believe (Mark 1:15b). He did not say repent and know the gospel. John said we should repent and believe because beliefs and faith are what helps us to live as we should. The Bible says it is,...the obedience of faith... (Rom. 1:5). God wants to emphasize that obedience comes from faith because He says this same thing twice (Rom. 16:26). Do you want to improve your obedience? Improve your faith. This course is for showing you how. Change What Your Heart Loves The loves of our heart greatly affect our behavior. The priorities that establish what we do with our time are determined by what we love. Jesus told us that...where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Mat. 6:21). The Bible also says,...if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them (Psa. 62:10). When our heart is set on riches, our love of money takes over and becomes our greatest pursuit. We constantly think about how we can get more. What we treasure greatly affects our behavior. Likewise, if we want to change our behavior, we have to change what we treasure. Thank You Lord! I delight that giving my hear reasons to trust you will change me. I love that it is true that...those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You (Psa. 9:10). I can change. What the Bible says about repentance will help me. Describe a time when your behavior was affected by what you believe and love. 20