What To Repent Of.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
This brief article seeks to help in knowing what to repent of. On a recent prayer walk as I was pouring out my heart to God for more holiness and for our church congregation, I was praying through these four points. May they be a blessing to you as well.
1. I repent of the littleness of my love
May our hearts burn with greater love for Jesus Christ. Think of how the Bridegroom loves the Shulammite in the Song. And think of how great Christ’s great love is for His Bride, the Church. Let it be your prayer that you confess the littleness of your love for Christ and plead for greater affections and more zealous desires for Him. Those who love Him abide in Him and keep His commandments. Let this prayer be true of you and may you grow in your passion in loving Him who is altogether lovely and full of beams of excellencies.
2. I repent of the coldness of my heart
Think of the many times that you have been cold in your heart toward Scripture, toward God, toward Truth, toward perishing sinners, and toward godly living. Confess your sins to the Lord. Ask for His mercy that He would re-kindle the flame of love that your heart would be warmed by His love and that you would love Him as He ought to be loved, that you would study Scripture as your chiefest joy, that you would pray for and evangelize sinners with God-magnifying confidence, and that you would walk in holiness so as to be pleasing to Him in all things. Confess your sin and seek to walk in truth and pray for Him to meet with you as you commune with Him.
3. I repent of the pridefulness of my heart
We all have the roots of pride still residing in our hearts. Our many sins that we commit come from the same root of self-magnifying, God-debasing pride. O let us repent and confess this sin. Let us come to God in earnest prayer and in desperate prayer clinging to His grace and His power to enable us to walk in humility just like Jesus Christ did. Implore God to remove jealousy, covetousness, lust, grumbling and complaining, and arguing with others. These sins arise out of the pridefulness in our own hearts. Seek to walk in humility as you go to Calvary and remember what Christ did for you — for your sins — and seek to have the mindset of Jesus Christ as your own each day, by God’s grace.
4. I repent of the self-confidence in my ministry
God has allotted a particular charge and calling to every single Christian. Every child of God has a mission that He has given to us. We are to fulfill that and live obediently to God. One sin that we all have is to dwell in self-confidence and to rely on self. This manifests itself practically in prayerlessness and thanklessness. If we pray little, then we are depending much on self. If we are thankless, then we are in that moment not recognizing all that we are and have comes from God but rather we think that we are entitled to blessings in life. Come again to the Lord humbly and ask for His forgiveness. Receive His powerful and sufficient grace. Seek to be confident in God and seek to slay all confidence in self. Let us be desperate for Him and lean on His power.
