REPENTANCE & AUTHORITY: A TEACHING

Many months ago God began to move graciously in the YWAM community where I live. Personally, I experienced a new love for Him, hearing His voice more clearly and a deeper joy. The pathway to that renewal was repentance. I found that God was opening my eyes to sins I had never seen before. More often than not, that was because my fellow YWAMers were also being renewed by the Holy Spirit and they felt freer to talk to me about aspects of my life that needed to change. I want that new freedom and growth to continue for the rest of my life.

When Joy Dawson first began to teach in YWAM in 1970, she urged us to ask God to enable us to see our hearts as He sees them. She taught from the lives of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and John, the Apostle. In each case, when they had a deep encounter with God, they were overwhelmed by their sense of unworthiness and were intensely aware of their sins. When I heard that teaching, I saw its value and as Joy instructed us, I asked God to show me my heart. Nothing happened. Some of my fellow students had deep encounters with God, but I experienced nothing.

That experience left me feeling like God had passed over me. I concluded that I just didn’t want it as badly as others; I didn’t know how to make myself hungrier for God or His conviction. From that time on, I never really expected to see my heart as God sees it. Then, a new friend who is a very good Bible teacher explained that everyone who seeks God in sincerity and humility can see their heart in that way. For some it is a dramatic encounter similar to the one described in Isaiah 6. But for others, that revelation comes bit by bit, like the peeling of an onion—one layer after another. (I am indebted to this teacher, Mike Riches, as well as Brian Brennt and his team in Tacoma, Washington for some of this teaching.)author

This is what I have been experiencing in recent years,. From my point of view, it is long overdue. Whether the delay was because of my hardness of heart or because of God’s choice of the best time, I can’t say. But I can say that I now see repentance as a precious gift from God—even though it is still hard to humble myself, repent before God, confess to others and ask for forgiveness.

Repentance was central to the message of Jesus

When Jesus began to preach, His message was, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near!” For most of us who are from evangelical backgrounds, that message has been limited to the act of being saved or converted. But repentance is much more than that.

Repentance is part on an ongoing life-style for those who seek to grow in power and authority. Repentance is actually a wonderful gift from God by which we continue to walk the path towards greater maturity in Christ. See how the scriptures describe repentance as a gift from above:

Acts 5:29-31 (NKJV) “…God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”

Acts 11:18 (NKJ) “…Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

Romans 2:4 (NASB) “Do you think lightly of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”

Repentance means to stop, turn & walk the opposite way. So when we repent we:

1. Stop our sin and confess it.

Acts 3:19 (NIV) Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

2. Turn away from our sin

2 Tim 2:19 (NIV) Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.

3. Live in the opposite way from our sin.

Ephesians 4:21 (NIV) He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

• The Greek word for repentance in the scriptures above is metanoia and it means, literally, “a change of mind”; so true repentance has radical results because we turn from something toward something completely different.

• It is not enough that we regret our sin or even feel very badly about it. Our will must be lined up with what is right. The scriptures speak much about being “whole-hearted” which means that your will—which is very powerful—is aligned with God’s will and His ways. When we align our choices with His ways, and the Holy Spirit adds His power, we have all we need to live a godly life and operate in His authority.

When we are convicted of sin, God wants us to add confession to our repentant attitude. Duncan Campbell, one of our teachers in early YWAM schools, said, “Sin leaves a person only one way—through the mouth!” In other words, we need to speak out our repentance. That is confession. Sometimes, it is sufficient to simply speak to the Lord about our repentance. But often, we must speak to others as the epistle of James tells us:

James 5:16 (NIV) …confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

When our sins have affected others in some way, we need to confess them. As a leader, my sin will almost always affect others, so I must be broken and humble enough to make public confession like King David did.

Psalm 51:17 (NIV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

We should not confess sins inappropriately, though. Our confession should not expose the sins of others. Neither should we confess things in a public setting that would be better confessed to one or two people who are very close to us.

But when God begins to draw a team or community together in a closer walk with Him, He often pours out His love so that it results in unusual transparency and individuals are led to open their hearts to others in deep brokenness, humility and agreement to “walk in the light”.

Repentance is a wonderful gift of God’s grace and mercy to us. Let us not treat it as something to be avoided, but embrace it as a pathway to deeper fellowship with Jesus. As we walk closely to him, He will trust us with more of His power and authority and we will live ever more fruitful lives!