Repent and Behold
Yesterday the Lord showed me some things about repentance after I had written the Pearls of Wisdom. I want to share them with you today.
I have always disliked the word repentance because to me it represented people coming to the altar and crying and getting all emotional and then going back home and not changing and coming back the next Sunday no different. Even though I know what the word repentance means, I didn’t see it happening. So when someone would preach on repent and get right with the Lord, I swallowed hard and watched the same emotional response by people coming by the hundreds to the altar. There is a difference between forgiveness and repentance.
Let’s look at the two words for a period of time here. Forgiveness is asking God to forgive you of your sins and truly meaning it, knowing that it is only because of the blood of Jesus that we are forgiven. Forgiveness is asking someone to forgive you whom you have hurt or whom you have aught against. Repentance, on the other hand, is changing direction and going in a different direction than what you were going in. And there may be tears of joy, but there will be change also.
Yesterday, I saw what repentance truly means in the eyes of the Lord and now I understand. You know what it says in Ephesians 1:18--- that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that our heart will be flooded with light, understanding.
To repent is to turn toward the Father and change your focus and vision. Whereas we always think that a person who repents is someone who has done a terrible thing and needs to repent (and it can be that, but it is so much broader than we have thought), the Father sees repentance as changing our direction, changing our focus, so that our vision is of the eternal things, the heavenly things.
When I as God’s child am in a difficult situation or circumstance and the pressure is put on me, I am to change my direction, turn around and place my focus on Him, keep Him in my vision. I want you to picture this for yourself. You are facing a terminal doctor’s report or you are facing a possible bankruptcy or you are facing divorce as a Christian couple or you have just learned that your precious child is on drugs. Repent, change your direction, turn around and turn your back on the effects of the situation and behold your Father standing there ready to help you. Keep your focus on Him. You are facing Him and the answer, not the problem. He does the fixing while you are doing the gazing, the focusing on Him.
Now that doesn’t mean that we bury our heads in the sand and not address the natural issues. But I tell you the first thing every one of us need to do. When we are facing what looks like an impossible situation, we need to stop, go before the Lord and ask Him for wisdom, ask Him for His input. Do it, even if it means that you stay up part of the night or you take off a day from work. Seek Him. Seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness and ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.
Did you notice what that verse says in Matthew 6:33. It says that all these things shall be added unto you. Do you see that word “added”? I had never really paid any attention to that little word until the other day. I had always dwelt on the first part of that verse. But look at it for yourself. It says “added.” Our job is to seek Him. His job is to add all these things unto us. What things do you need added unto you? Your health, your wealth, your marriage fixed, your child back with Jesus. What is it you need today? Repent, change your focus and instead of beholding your situation, behold Him, behold the Father in all of His glory, behold Jesus and what He has purchased for you, behold the Holy Spirit and what He wants to do for you today and every day. We must change our focus, especially when we are in the midst of impossible situations. If we don’t change our focus, we will just stay where we are and say that God doesn’t love us and He doesn’t care and His Word doesn’t work for us. How do I know? Been there, done that, have the T shirt to prove it.
This life with the Lord is a life of faith, a life of deliberate action to believe God and His Word, to receive what He has told us in His Word as being ours. After we have the results in the natural realm is not the time to believe. You don’t need faith then. You need faith to bring from God’s realm into the natural realm “the things added unto you.”
I want to give you two wonderful scriptures to meditate on concerning beholding the Father. They have helped me so much and they are so beautiful.
Psalm 17:15 Amplified Bible
As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake [to find myself] beholding Your form [and having sweet communion with You].
Psalm 27:4 Amplified Bible
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. What Jesus is saying to us here is this: Turn around; the Kingdom of God, God’s way of doing things is right there for you. Repent; change your focus. Behold Him. Change the way you think; change the way you respond; change your thinking to line up with God’s Word; then your actions will line up with God’s Word; then the results will line up with God’s Word and “all these things shall be added unto you.”
I have always disliked the word repentance because to me it represented people coming to the altar and crying and getting all emotional and then going back home and not changing and coming back the next Sunday no different. Even though I know what the word repentance means, I didn’t see it happening. So when someone would preach on repent and get right with the Lord, I swallowed hard and watched the same emotional response by people coming by the hundreds to the altar. There is a difference between forgiveness and repentance.
Let’s look at the two words for a period of time here. Forgiveness is asking God to forgive you of your sins and truly meaning it, knowing that it is only because of the blood of Jesus that we are forgiven. Forgiveness is asking someone to forgive you whom you have hurt or whom you have aught against. Repentance, on the other hand, is changing direction and going in a different direction than what you were going in. And there may be tears of joy, but there will be change also.
Yesterday, I saw what repentance truly means in the eyes of the Lord and now I understand. You know what it says in Ephesians 1:18--- that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that our heart will be flooded with light, understanding.
To repent is to turn toward the Father and change your focus and vision. Whereas we always think that a person who repents is someone who has done a terrible thing and needs to repent (and it can be that, but it is so much broader than we have thought), the Father sees repentance as changing our direction, changing our focus, so that our vision is of the eternal things, the heavenly things.
When I as God’s child am in a difficult situation or circumstance and the pressure is put on me, I am to change my direction, turn around and place my focus on Him, keep Him in my vision. I want you to picture this for yourself. You are facing a terminal doctor’s report or you are facing a possible bankruptcy or you are facing divorce as a Christian couple or you have just learned that your precious child is on drugs. Repent, change your direction, turn around and turn your back on the effects of the situation and behold your Father standing there ready to help you. Keep your focus on Him. You are facing Him and the answer, not the problem. He does the fixing while you are doing the gazing, the focusing on Him.
Now that doesn’t mean that we bury our heads in the sand and not address the natural issues. But I tell you the first thing every one of us need to do. When we are facing what looks like an impossible situation, we need to stop, go before the Lord and ask Him for wisdom, ask Him for His input. Do it, even if it means that you stay up part of the night or you take off a day from work. Seek Him. Seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness and ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.
Did you notice what that verse says in Matthew 6:33. It says that all these things shall be added unto you. Do you see that word “added”? I had never really paid any attention to that little word until the other day. I had always dwelt on the first part of that verse. But look at it for yourself. It says “added.” Our job is to seek Him. His job is to add all these things unto us. What things do you need added unto you? Your health, your wealth, your marriage fixed, your child back with Jesus. What is it you need today? Repent, change your focus and instead of beholding your situation, behold Him, behold the Father in all of His glory, behold Jesus and what He has purchased for you, behold the Holy Spirit and what He wants to do for you today and every day. We must change our focus, especially when we are in the midst of impossible situations. If we don’t change our focus, we will just stay where we are and say that God doesn’t love us and He doesn’t care and His Word doesn’t work for us. How do I know? Been there, done that, have the T shirt to prove it.
This life with the Lord is a life of faith, a life of deliberate action to believe God and His Word, to receive what He has told us in His Word as being ours. After we have the results in the natural realm is not the time to believe. You don’t need faith then. You need faith to bring from God’s realm into the natural realm “the things added unto you.”
I want to give you two wonderful scriptures to meditate on concerning beholding the Father. They have helped me so much and they are so beautiful.
Psalm 17:15 Amplified Bible
As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake [to find myself] beholding Your form [and having sweet communion with You].
Psalm 27:4 Amplified Bible
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. What Jesus is saying to us here is this: Turn around; the Kingdom of God, God’s way of doing things is right there for you. Repent; change your focus. Behold Him. Change the way you think; change the way you respond; change your thinking to line up with God’s Word; then your actions will line up with God’s Word; then the results will line up with God’s Word and “all these things shall be added unto you.”
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:37 AM
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