More than an Apology
Prayer 365 // The Rhythm of Repentance
“Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” - James 4:5-7 NLT
Repentance is more than an apology. That’s what I want you to know today, that repentance is more than an apology. This is a valuable truth that has changed my life, shifted my focus and centered my efforts. But it wasn’t always like this. For so many years repentance was equated with simply saying “sorry.” While this is part of it, it’s not all of it (I’ll explain more in a moment). “I’m sorry” was my expressed acknowledgement of my failure to walk in total obedience — for messing up, falling short and landing in sin.
Every time I’d mess up, I’d feel convicted and sometimes I’d quickly say I was sorry but then sometimes it would take me a while — I was overtaken with pride. Over time I was fully aware of my imperfections but I had no answer for my failures, no answer for my sin so I’d fall again. Saying "I’m sorry" over and over with no sustained change evolved from repentance to resentment towards myself for my inability to walk straightly.
Part of the problem was in my words. Because I no longer walked solely in repentance but resentment, the words "I’m sorry” took on a different meaning. I no longer just felt sorry as in remorseful, I started to feel sorry in sense of feeling worthless. All those times I was repeating, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry,” I began to to prophesy over myself saying that I was literally sorry, that I was worthless in my own eyes. What started out as a statement of remorse became a statement of abuse. Words that were meant to free me became weapons that wounded me. I later learned the reason why is because I had placed unrealistic expectations on myself. That which I expected from myself, God did not. He did not expect that which I expected of myself. I desired perfection but God desired my surrender.
Repentance is more than an apology, it’s the turning of the heart back to God. We must understand this isn't just an occasional turn or casual motion, but it should be a permanent (perpetual) posture of the heart. In James 4:7 it says “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The mistake I made was I worked hard on my efforts to resist the devil but gave little to no effort in submitting to God. As you would expect, this resulted in failure time and time again. I thought repentance was about how I failed to resist, so there I was saying I’m sorry, over and over again because of how I failed to resist the devil, whereas repentance is really about how I failed to submit to God. Life is not a game about how well you can apologize or how good you can avoid falling, instead repentance is a lifestyle of submission and surrender.
C.S Lewis put it this way, "It’s the dying to one’s self," the acknowledgment of our inability and God’s limitless ability. It’s not about how well I say I’m sorry but how well I demonstrate to God “that I’m Yours! I belong to You!” This is the heart of repentance, this is the rhythm of repentance. My hope, my prayer is that, as a church, we would engage in the rhythm of repentance. That we won’t simply look at repentance as a formal apology to God, but we would look at repentance as a lifestyle, as giving ourselves to Him. Yes, it is the turning of the heart, but it should not be occasional but should be a permanent (perpetual) posture of our hearts. Completely turned to Him, completely surrendered to Him, fully in submission. When we do that, there is nothing that can stand in our way! Because it's after we submit to God, when we stand against the wiles of the devil, he has no choice but to flee from us. Because the person that is surrendered to God is the person that is covered by God.
My prayer is that you would engage in the rhythm of repentance, knowing that it’s more than an apology. God doesn’t expect from me what I put on myself. One night in Bible Study, Sis. Lisa Jenkins put to words perfectly, she said: “God doesn’t hold me to the standard that I hold myself.” You see, What I was trying to achieve in myself was impossible in my own might. What I discovered in my failures, God knew from the beginning: that holiness and obedience to His word was not possible without His divine help. But this help is only accessible through a heart of surrender.
Prayer Focus: A heart completely submitted and surrendered to God.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
Repentance is more than an apology. That’s what I want you to know today, that repentance is more than an apology. This is a valuable truth that has changed my life, shifted my focus and centered my efforts. But it wasn’t always like this. For so many years repentance was equated with simply saying “sorry.” While this is part of it, it’s not all of it (I’ll explain more in a moment). “I’m sorry” was my expressed acknowledgement of my failure to walk in total obedience — for messing up, falling short and landing in sin.
Every time I’d mess up, I’d feel convicted and sometimes I’d quickly say I was sorry but then sometimes it would take me a while — I was overtaken with pride. Over time I was fully aware of my imperfections but I had no answer for my failures, no answer for my sin so I’d fall again. Saying "I’m sorry" over and over with no sustained change evolved from repentance to resentment towards myself for my inability to walk straightly.
Part of the problem was in my words. Because I no longer walked solely in repentance but resentment, the words "I’m sorry” took on a different meaning. I no longer just felt sorry as in remorseful, I started to feel sorry in sense of feeling worthless. All those times I was repeating, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry,” I began to to prophesy over myself saying that I was literally sorry, that I was worthless in my own eyes. What started out as a statement of remorse became a statement of abuse. Words that were meant to free me became weapons that wounded me. I later learned the reason why is because I had placed unrealistic expectations on myself. That which I expected from myself, God did not. He did not expect that which I expected of myself. I desired perfection but God desired my surrender.
Repentance is more than an apology, it’s the turning of the heart back to God. We must understand this isn't just an occasional turn or casual motion, but it should be a permanent (perpetual) posture of the heart. In James 4:7 it says “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The mistake I made was I worked hard on my efforts to resist the devil but gave little to no effort in submitting to God. As you would expect, this resulted in failure time and time again. I thought repentance was about how I failed to resist, so there I was saying I’m sorry, over and over again because of how I failed to resist the devil, whereas repentance is really about how I failed to submit to God. Life is not a game about how well you can apologize or how good you can avoid falling, instead repentance is a lifestyle of submission and surrender.
C.S Lewis put it this way, "It’s the dying to one’s self," the acknowledgment of our inability and God’s limitless ability. It’s not about how well I say I’m sorry but how well I demonstrate to God “that I’m Yours! I belong to You!” This is the heart of repentance, this is the rhythm of repentance. My hope, my prayer is that, as a church, we would engage in the rhythm of repentance. That we won’t simply look at repentance as a formal apology to God, but we would look at repentance as a lifestyle, as giving ourselves to Him. Yes, it is the turning of the heart, but it should not be occasional but should be a permanent (perpetual) posture of our hearts. Completely turned to Him, completely surrendered to Him, fully in submission. When we do that, there is nothing that can stand in our way! Because it's after we submit to God, when we stand against the wiles of the devil, he has no choice but to flee from us. Because the person that is surrendered to God is the person that is covered by God.
My prayer is that you would engage in the rhythm of repentance, knowing that it’s more than an apology. God doesn’t expect from me what I put on myself. One night in Bible Study, Sis. Lisa Jenkins put to words perfectly, she said: “God doesn’t hold me to the standard that I hold myself.” You see, What I was trying to achieve in myself was impossible in my own might. What I discovered in my failures, God knew from the beginning: that holiness and obedience to His word was not possible without His divine help. But this help is only accessible through a heart of surrender.
Prayer Focus: A heart completely submitted and surrendered to God.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
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