Anger, Change, Encouragement, Forgiveness, God's Promises, Obedience, Prayer, Relationship to Christ, Repentance, Salvation, Sin

Repentance

As we continue our look at the acronym PRAY, we’ve already talked about the P, which means praise.  Today we look at the R which stands for repent.  Our Bible Journaling verse for today is Proverbs 28:13, “The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.” (CSB)  What I like about this verse is knowing that when we come to God and confess our sins to Him, He will hear us, and He will forgive us.

A good reminder of this is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJV)  Oftentimes, this verse is used when leading someone to Christ for salvation, but it also is a reminder to Born-Again Believers.  Once we have surrendered to Jesus and given Him our heart, our will, and our soul, we are taken into His family, but that doesn’t mean we are perfect, and we will never sin again.  We are still human and must deal with battling the same things we did before we became believers. 

Some battles are won quickly.  In my Dad’s instance, it was instantaneous. When I was 2 years old, I remember my Dad walking into the house, going to the kitchen cabinet, taking a brand-new bottle of wine that hadn’t been opened, and pouring the whole thing down the sink. My Dad had been talking to our neighbor, who was the pastor of one of the local churches, and the pastor led my Dad to Jesus.  Life in our family from that point on changed drastically.  We started going to church and Daddy began reading the Bible every day, and we began praying over our meals. 

God has forgiven me many times for hurting others via my explosive anger.  For me, anger has been a life-long issue. Even after I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at the age of  11, it has been a battle for me, sometimes, daily, sometimes minute-by-minute!  God is working on me in this.  Every time I get angry, I must stop and ask God to forgive me and then ask the person I blew up at for their forgiveness.  I have a long way to go, but I think I am getting better at curbing my flare-ups.  I need to also pay attention to what it is that sets me off and avoid that situation before getting upset.  I also need to stop, take a step backward, and think about what I’m about to say.  For me, that is almost impossible.  I’m the kind of person who talks first and then thinks about it afterward.  That doesn’t always work out well.  But God is faithful!  He knows my quirks, after all, He made me, and He understands.

The thing with repentance is that we can’t just say, “Oh well, God will forgive me.” and continue the same path, never trying to conquer our sin.  We also must try to overcome that sin.  We must make the effort to change those things in ourselves that would separate us from God.  Repentance helps us keep a good relationship with God but also is an eye-opening reminder that we are not perfect, and we may sin.  But if we are honest with God and ourselves, endeavor to work on those things that are not pleasing to Him and try to become more like Jesus, God will forgive us, encourage us, and help us to conquer those things that hinder our walk with Him. 

I love the idea that God extends mercy to us after we genuinely repent.  He forgives us even when we don’t deserve it.  This is just an awesome example of His love for us.  He wants a relationship with us that is free from anything that would hinder our walk with Him, but when one sins and repents, He extends His mercy toward us.

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Donna Knuth Rice

I am trying a blog for the first time in my life, and frankly, I feel like I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing! But, here goes. I work at a Christian Television network in the Correspondence Department, where I write letters and emails to our viewers, pray with them for their needs, and send materials they request. I am a Christian. I was saved at the age of 11 during a youth meeting at my church. My pastor led me to the Lord, and to say the least, my life has been an adventure. I am a widow. My late husband, Allen, passed away after 34 1/2 years of marriage. He had been sick the last seven years of his life, and it was a struggle, for him and for me. We met as part of a singing group that was affiliated with a Christian Radio station, and we sang together all through our lives together. We both worked in television and radio all through our married life, mostly for Christian stations. Besides singing I also play flute. I had the luxury of having parents who started out as music teachers...so music was in our house constantly. Some people describe me as being a loud-mouthed lime type...can't disagree with that. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count! I also have a tendency to say exactly what's on my mind...which is why I get myself in so much trouble! LOL! Trust me, that's something me and God have been working on for a very long time. I have no children here on earth, although I have a baby in heaven. My baby here is my dog Jack. He's a black lab/ chow mix. He's a big boy....thinks he's a lap dog! Can't think of much else to say. The reason I started this blog is because a few months ago in church, a guest pastor came and delivered a message, and when he asked for those of us who wanted prayer to come forward, I did. When he came to me he asked me if I did any journaling. I told him no 'cause I wasn't very good at it. He told me to start, and prophesied over me that my journal thoughts would impact other people. I wasn't sure just how I was to go about doing this. In fact, I was a little hesitant at first. I started journaling at home, and our assistant pastor's wife asked me to submit something for our Senior newsletter. I didn't the first edition, but something I had heard on Christian radio a long time ago and has stuck with me all these years, came to mind so I submitted an article. That article will be my first post. I don't claim to have all the answers, and my thoughts may seem a little "out there", but I feel God has been prodding me to do this, and so here I am. I hope what I post will bring encouragement, and "Something to Think About".

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