Lesson 10. “Effective Prayer” School. Author Mary Alice Islayb speaks about the Prayer of Repentance and its importance.
For if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9–10
These verses are the foundation of the Prayer of Repentance.
This may be one of the very first prayers you address to God, apart from those moments when you cry out, “God, if You exist, help!”
The Prayer of Repentance brings you into the Kingdom of God. It is the very first prayer that brought astonishing results into your life: it led you from darkness into light and gave you a right relationship with God.
This prayer is spoken at the moment of the new birth, when you are saved. But the blessing and benefit of this prayer do not end with salvation. The Lord gave us this powerful prayer so that we would use it throughout our Christian lives—not to be saved again, but to keep our hearts and lives blameless before God.
The word “repent” means “to change,” that is, to turn around and go in a different direction. Let us see what the Bible says about repentance:
Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out.
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19–20
The Cornerstone of the Christian Faith
What does repentance mean? Changing your thoughts and goals. Repentance says: “With my whole being, I desire to change this area of my life and follow the Lord’s plan without compromise or rebellion.”
Jesus Himself came to proclaim repentance: “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:15). What He said means: “You must change! Every area of your life must change in order to receive the Kingdom of God. The new Kingdom of God has drawn near, but to enter it, you must repent and change!”
John the Baptist’s entire ministry was marked by these words: “Repent! Something better is coming. Be ready.” However you look at the word “repentance,” at its center is the word “change.”
Repentance is also mentioned as a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. Hebrews 6:1 says that every believer’s life should be based on repentance, turning away from dead works, and faith in God.
The Lord’s Grace Leads to Repentance
Acts 17:30 says: “...God now commands all people everywhere to repent.” And, of course, we know that the goodness of God leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
God is very good! He wants to change the lives of men and women throughout the world. He wants to enter the very essence of their being—their hearts—and show them how good He is, how deeply He loves them, and what an excellent plan He has for them. He also brings them to an awareness of sin and the need for a Savior. He wants them to repent of their sins, change, and turn to Him with all their hearts; then His goodness will be manifested in your life.
In Romans 10:9–10, we find the principles of the Prayer of Repentance, in which the key elements are a believing heart and confession with the mouth. Through the new birth, the Holy Spirit reveals to you who Jesus is, and you believe in your heart who He is.Recognizing the need for salvation through the crucifixion and blood of Jesus, you must confess with your mouth that He rose again and that He is Lord.
Words filled with faith, when spoken, have the power to change you. Verse 10 states that you must believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and together these will bring salvation into your life.
In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, Jesus addresses the churches and speaks about what needs to change. But He made no excuses: “If you want to, or if you feel like it... you may...”
God calls us to repentance! We need to see what we are doing wrong before God; this should stir our hearts, and we must cry out to the Lord to change it.
But it is not enough to think only about specific areas where repentance and change are needed. There must be a radical, complete transformation that would keep you on the right path, in accordance with God’s plan and will, rather than your own, which inevitably leads to destruction. The Holy Spirit always desires to show you God’s plan for your life. And when your ways do not align with His ways, He wants,you to repent and receive freedom and His mercy.
Be Willing to Change
Whenever you grieve the Holy Spirit, disobey God’s will, or stray from God’s path, the Holy Spirit will always be gracious toward you. He will begin working in you on what needs to change. But you also have a part to play: being open before God to changes in your life. Many people do not do this. It is human nature to become stuck on something and no longer want to change.
The problem is that the religious world has established a large number of specific rituals and rules. People become accustomed to the usual way of doing things, and although the Holy Spirit wants them to do something differently, they do not want to change. They become so bound by one thing that they grow dull and inert, and there is no longer any freshness in their lives. The Holy Spirit tries to move them from this dead end, but they refuse, and are no longer able to hear the voice of the Lord. In fact, their hearts become hardened, and they no longer want to bow before Jesus.
When the Lord tells you that you should change something, you must acknowledge it as sin and admit that you are going down the wrong path. When repentance comes, the power of the Holy Spirit is released to enable you to walk on the right path with the Lord in peace and joy. The Lord corrects us because He loves us and wants us always to remain open to change.
There are different degrees of repentance to which the Holy Spirit leads us in order to cleanse us:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Notice: both the heart and the lips are involved. If the Holy Spirit points out to your heart what needs to change in your life, then, being faithful and just, He will cleanse you if you honestly acknowledge the sin.
It is very important that you allow the Holy Spirit to truly work in your life. God disciplines you and shows you what is wrong because He loves you and is ready to lovingly correct you.
When the Lord sees something wrong in your life or that you have grieved the Holy Spirit, He touches your heart. God is not cruel; He will not make you suffer, kill you, or bring sickness upon you to teach you a lesson. You would not treat your children that way, and God will never treat His children that way. It is completely contrary to His nature!
Acknowledge It as Sin
My parents always clearly told me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. I only had to listen and change what they pointed out. God, your Heavenly Father, does the same. Therefore, when you, as believers, feel distressed in your heart, acknowledge it as sin. Just acknowledge it!
When God reveals something to you, what should you do? Push it away and pretend that it does not concern you, or humbly say, “Oh, Father, I am truly sinful and I am sorry. This grieves You. I acknowledge that this is sin. I turn away from it. Father, forgive me and cleanse me.”
God shows you how terrible this sin is so that you will get rid of it. And there is nothing wrong with seeing how terrible your sin is. Repent. Turn away from sin and turn to the Lord. And when you acknowledge your sin, God, being faithful and righteous, will forgive you. When you repent, forgiveness comes to you, and revival begins in that place.
I have often seen people turn to the Lord for help (and the Lord longs to help!). And when the Holy Spirit gave them clear direction about where they needed to change, instead of being open to God, their hearts were hard and insensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit. I realized that when people are not open to the prayer of repentance, the Lord cannot help them until they humble themselves before Him in this area.
Change will not come into your life until you are willing to repent of what the Lord points out to you. Often, deliverance does not come to the extent the Holy Spirit desires without prior repentance.
Remember, repentance is a positive thing. In the past, we thought repentance was something negative, that we repented when we had displeased the Lord in some way and He no longer loved us. Or we thought that the Lord would send punishment to test us.
But repentance is a mighty force in the spiritual realm. Repentance is positive! We repent because we love the Lord, and He loves us, shows us what we need to correct, and teaches us. Repentance brings us freedom and cleansing. It makes our hearts soft and sensitive to the Lord again.
Godly Sorrow
There are different levels of the Prayer of Repentance. Sometimes, as the Lord works in us, He leads us to deep repentance. This is what the apostle Paul wrote about it:
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance; for you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Cor. 7:9,10
One of the means the Holy Spirit sometimes uses is godly sorrow. Paul spoke to the saints about the problems in the Corinthian church, where various sins were being committed. The people were still carnal; they had given place to Satan, and Paul called them to repentance.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote about conviction by the Holy Spirit, which led them to deep repentance. With tears and weeping, they cried out to God, repenting of their sins with all their hearts. They allowed the Lord to work in them.
In these verses, Paul said that he was pleased that they were repenting, had turned to the Lord, and felt bitterness and sorrow before Him for what they had done.
Our sin grieves the Lord!
Some people repent with wrong motives. They “repent” out of self-pity, because sin is horrible, because it has caused them pain, or because they were caught! But above all, we must understand that our wrong actions grieve the Lord!
The foundation of the Prayer of Repentance rests on the awareness that our actions not only cause us pain, but, most importantly, grieve the Holy Spirit. We must see how we have sinned against Him and pray: “O Lord, I am so sorry. I have grieved the Holy Spirit. O Lord, I ask for forgiveness. Forgive me, Father.”
The truth is that we are not only sinners saved by grace, but also that whenever there is sin or unrighteousness, whenever the enemy has entered and gained a foothold in an area of our lives, or the flesh has gained the upper hand over us, repentance is necessary to restore right relationships.
Verse 10 says that they felt sorrow because they had grieved the Lord. This sorrow, which moved them to turn to the Lord with tears, produced repentance in them, and this brought deliverance and forgiveness.
Paul continues that worldly sorrow brings death, not true repentance. Worldly sorrow is simply sadness, not an awareness of sin or that we have done something against God. Worldly sorrow affects a person’s life only at the soulish level. We apologize for simply making some ordinary human mistake or something of that kind.
The Results of Sorrow for the Lord
Therefore, we must acknowledge sin as sin, repent, humble ourselves before the Lord, and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, help us, and change us, break the yoke of sin, and work in this area of our lives. Then we will discover that sorrow for the Lord has produced in our lives the same thing it did in those Corinthian believers.
For behold, this very thing—that you were made sorrowful according to God—what earnestness it produced in you, what vindication, what indignation against the guilty, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to punish! In everything you proved yourselves pure in this matter. 2 Cor. 7:11
Sorrow for the Lord produces earnestness in us. It leads to cleansing from guilt, shame, and unrighteousness through the power of repentance.
God will never turn away anyone who comes to Him and whose heart has been touched by the Spirit of the Lord. God uses the Prayer of Repentance to restore areas of life where change is needed; He wants to deliver and cleanse us.
If you are someone who can quickly acknowledge sin and repent, if you are open and sensitive to the Lord, you are demonstrating true spirituality in your life.
Spirituality is love for the truth. Jesus always tells us the truth, not because He is angry with us, but because He loves us. The truth sets us free. Love is always connected with truth. Jesus will address you with the truth you need, and if you respond to it and allow the Holy Spirit to work, it will produce life, power, and freedom in your life!
Pray the Prayer of Repentance. Allow the Lord to change you, because something better awaits you—purity, freedom, and joy!
End of the lesson.
