So, REPENT why don't you . . .

The little boy had been caught out telling a lie, and now his father has called him to task. The firmness in his voice hid the love and the kindness that was in his eyes as he asked the boy to tell him exactly what he had said and why he'd said it. "You know, son," he said, "The worst thing about telling a lie is that you can easily find yourself telling more lies in order to cover up the first." The boy looked at his father and, with a shrug of his shoulders, casually mumbled the word 'Sorry' to his father. "I'm afraid that's not enough," his father said, a sharpness in the tone of his voice. "If you are really sorry then I want to hear just how sorry you are in your voice."

The little boy looked up at his father and shrugged again. "Well, I've said sorry. What else do you want from me?" Sadly his father looked at his son's face, a small sense of defiance beginning to show through. "It's easy to say 'Sorry', but I need you to mean sorry, and that's a different matter altogether! At the moment I think that you're just saying what you think will get you off the hook, but it means nothing at all to me. In fact, by refusing to mean 'Sorry', you are making the situation a whole lot worse."

He led the boy to his bedroom and told him to stay there and think about everything that had been said. Looking up the boy said to his father, "Okay, dad, but can I come down in a minute to watch my favorite TV programme once I've said 'Sorry' like I mean it?" His voice softer than before, the father looked at his son and said, "No son, you just stay hear until you understand what meaning sorry is all about."

Of course, the above is just a story --- an illustration of a situation that is repeated every day and all over the world, and has been throughout the history of mankind. Because of our human natures we do things, or say things, or think things that are wrong. Things that offend our heavenly Father. He wants us to say sorry for them, but the important thing is that we must actually be really sorry if we want to be forgiven. Real sorrow doesn't come along with a shrug or a casual throwaway word, it comes with tears and heartache, both as a result of our soul-searching and the realisation that we have done something that has displeased our heavenly Father.

This then is what REPENTANCE is about. If we want to please God then we must tell Him just how sorry we are for all the things that are wrong in our lives. Not only must we tell Him, but we must understand the hurt that our doing wrong causes Him to feel. Just like any good father, God wants to forgive us, but how can we expect to be forgiven if we don't express real sorrow for the things that cause Him offence? Real sorrow means that we don't make the same mistake again.

All over the world people are speaking of a longing for REVIVAL, yet without real REPENTANCE there can be no Revival. Revival starts with people ensuring that they are right with God and then praying that He will send His Spirit to REVIVE THE PEOPLE. So we can see that we each have a responsibility to go to God in TRUE REPENTANCE, to say and mean 'Sorry' for everything that is wrong in our lives --- all the things that otherwise serve to stand in the way of our communion with Him --- and then to accept His forgiveness, given, not because we deserve it but because He gives it by His GRACE.

No matter where you think --- or feel --- that you stand before God the Father, why not fall to your knees or bow your head right now and REPENT. Ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to forgive you and to cleanse and purify you. Then ask Him to allow you the privilege of serving Him under the direction of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ.

One thing I'll guarantee you, and that is that you will never regret it!