How to repent, confess, and forsake your sins

How to repent, confess, and forsake your sins:

    Repentance

“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”  (2 Corinthians 7:10) 

Repentance is an inward change of heart, a change of attitude toward God. to make a conscious decision to stop doing evil and learn to do good by God's grace. To repent is to accept your sinful nature, and therefore accept the only provision that God has made for man to be saved--Jesus Christ.

Essentially, repentance is the most important decision you will ever make in your whole life: to admit that you are wrong, and thus spiritually dead; to accept the free gift from God, His Son Jesus; and to embrace what is right, Christ, which is life.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

     Confession

After repenting, you must confess, even though God knows everything you have done in your entire life. It is very important that you confess all your sins with your mouth, making an introspection, putting the devil to shame, so that once God forgives all your sins and cleanses you from all your sins and unrighteousness, you are truly free, and the devil has no power over you, not even by reminding you of your past life and previous sins.

Because if God Almighty has forgiven you, who is the devil or anyone to condemn you?

“Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8:33-34) 

Now, how to confess your sins to God.

I thank God Almighty for He is just and righteous and good, that there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ our Lord. So this is what you must do:

Go into your room or a private place, alone, kneel down, and confess all your sins.  You must confess all your sins by name, naming each to God, and do not keep anything from God, for He already knows what you have done. Ask God to forgive you of all your sins in the name of Jesus, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness with the blood of Jesus.

“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)

“…and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:7)

Once you have confessed all your sins with all your heart, God promises in His Word that He will remember our sins no more.

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”  (Isaiah 43:25) 

God will erase everything  that you have ever done in your whole life.  Now how amazing is that? Everything you ever done!!!  After you have confessed all your sins, your life starts afresh, like a brand new lease in life.  Praise God!

“ Come now, and let us reason together,” 

      Says the LORD, 

      “ Though your sins are like scarlet, 

      They shall be as white as snow; 

      Though they are red like crimson, 

      They shall be as wool”  (Isaiah 1:18)

      Forsaking your sins

To forsake your sins is simply what God is saying in His Word:

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; 

 Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. 

 Cease to do evil, Learn to do good…” (Isaiah 1:16-17)

Once you have believed in the Word of God and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you have repented and confessed all your sins, you begin a relationship with God; therefore, you must stop walking in darkness and start walking in the light.  Everything that you were or are doing which is against God, before you accepted the Lord Jesus in your life, you must stop doing and forsake these things. This cannot happen by your own efforts, but by asking the Lord Jesus to help you by His grace to give you power to overcome your bad habits and sins, so that you may have a close relationship with God, so that when you call on His name He will answer you.

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him [God], and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:6-7) 

Please do not try to change yourself to do good.  You cannot.  In fact, none of us can.  It is only by God’s power, by His Holy Spirit, that we are able to overcome all our weaknesses and live a victorious Christian life.  All you need to do is to surrender your life to the Lord Jesus, and He will give you grace to overcome sin.  So bring all your bad habits, all your sins, unto the throne of grace and ask God to help you overcome them all.

Here is His invitation for you today, right now, this very day, this very hour:

“ Come now, and let us reason together,” 

      Says the LORD, 

      “ Though your sins are like scarlet, 

      They shall be as white as snow; 

      Though they are red like crimson, 

      They shall be as wool”  (Isaiah 1:18)

And Again:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30)

Do not allow this invitation to pass you by today.   Yes, today is the right time.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.  Today, and even right now, is all you have.   Surrender your life to the Lord Jesus and give Him all your burdens and He will lift you up.  

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

 and the love of God our Father,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you,

 now and forever more. Amen.