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Repentance puts us into God’s care and out of Satan’s reach. “…in order to open their eyes so that they may turn (repent) from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26 18).

Lost people and believers alike have misunderstood repentance. Repentance is a gift from God and we need to understand it.

The word repent means metanaeo. W.E. Vines Bible Dictionary describes it as "to perceive afterwards, implying change: after thought, change of mind, not simply a change of a mind, but such a change as would reverse the effects of ones own previous state of mind."

According to Webster's the word metamorphosis is derived from metanaeo and is defined as "a transformation as by a supernatural means, a marked alteration in appearance, condition, character and function."

A caterpillar goes through a series of turningin its cocoon until it goes through a metamorphosis and actually supernaturally changes into a different type of character, a butterfly, from a ground crawler to a flyer. God also changes us supernaturally from one who crawls around in sin to one who is Holy and soars with God like an eagle.

God's part is to perform a miracle, a change. Our part is simply to turn.

1. God's presence.

The times in my life that have been most precious with the Lord were when I truly poured out my heart, after which He has pointed out some area in my life that needed to be changed, or turned. When I turned, He was there with His presence. This is a promise stated in Acts 3:19-20 which says, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you…"

The Presence of The Lord gives us times of refreshing. When do we need refreshing? When we are in hot times!

The way we enter into fellowship and presence of Godis through repentance, which is another word for turning or Meta in Greek. Practically speaking, this means to pour our hearts out to Him. When we do this, He lets His walls down and we let ours down. "Eye has not seen nor ear heard...but God reveals to those who love Him" (1 Co. 2:9).

If we were to see all of God, nothing else in our life would matter. The reason too many others things matter in life is that we have not seen enough of Him!

When we repent, we can see the invisible worldand faith becomes real "Whenever one turns, the veil is taken away" (2 Co. 3:16).

Our job is to be like a caterpillar and keep turning. His job is to do the miracle of making us pure, as He is pure.

The direction of our posture makes all the difference. When we are facing the world and all of its pleasures and deceits, we cannot make contact with God. But when we turn and repent, God does the work.

Human will is the most powerful force in the world besides God. God will not turn us, we must do that. But when we turn and repent, His power goes to work.

The picture God wants us to see is one of the Holy Spirit standing therejust waiting for us to turn towards Him. We don't have to do the work and the cleaning up. All we have to do is turn and when we do, He is there to do miracles.

2. The Kingdom of God

Taking your life out of Satan's hands by turning to the Word of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [or within your reach, right now]."

Humans use all the methods of the world system and of their own self- sufficiencyto get their unmet needs met. Our basic needs are love, security and significance.

When people do not get needs metthey don't want to accept the fact that the world will never provide them those needs. So they attempt to close the gap by trying improving themselves, and hoping that things will get better. They think that there must be something wrong with them. Guilt comes, they misjudge God's character, Satan promotes lies and they buy them. They doubt the truth of God's Word.

They avoid the two painful realities that:

1. We live in an unpredictable and hostile world that we cannot control.

2. We are helpless and we cannot depend upon ourselves to improve to get our needs met.

Avoiding these realities keeps them from being totally dependent upon God, yes even Christians.

So what is the answer? How do we get the Kingdom of God by turning? Jesus said in Mark 4:11 that the mystery of the Kingdom of God is revealed in the parable of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping what? Sowing and reaping the Word of God.

Didn't Peter write that the promises of God provide us with everything we need for life and Godliness? "…according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" ((2 Peter 1 3-4).

Jesus said in Mark 4 that the entire Kingdom of God worked on this principle. He said that this is the mystery of the Kingdom. What is the mystery? That life is sustained by the Word of God planted in a human heart. Then the process of growth takes place. Along with the growth is pain. The pain that results from Satan attempting to steal the Word while you are waiting for the "Lord to return" with the fruit.

He is saying that we need to become Word dependent people, and neither self-dependent nor world dependent. The way to depend upon God is to depend upon the supernatural power of the Word of God!

Another way to put it is; repent(i.e. take a shift in what you ultimately trust in and depend upon for your most critical need, shift from depending upon yourself and the world system) because the Kingdom of God (i.e., God's system described in Mark 4 of planting the seed of the Word of God in your heart, and allowing it to grow to produce everything you need for life and Godliness, for bearing fruit for God's glory) is now within your reach.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the things you need will be added to and overtake you like fruit overtakes the branch on the vine (Matthew 6:33).

Acts 26:18 says that when we turn, or repent, we take ourselves out of the power of Satan and put ourselves under the power of God.

Hosea shows us the model repentance that takes our sufficiency away from the world (Assyria), away from ourselves (our own hands) and puts our trust in the Word of God.

Hosea 14:1-3 says "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses.' We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion."

David, in Psalm 62, describes his frustration of not being able to make life work. He declares that he is not able, nor strong enough. Then he gets the idea when he says, "My soul, be silent only to God; for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my strong tower; I shall not be shaken. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength; my hiding-place is in God" (Psalms 62:5-7).

ISOB Discipleship Training Manual. Larry Chkoreff (WALK) (Repentance)

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