An honest look at where we are—compared to where we need to be—reveals that we are dragging our feet trying to avoid moving forward in our walk with God. 

If thoughts of repentance and of turning to God fill you with fear, try to keep in mind that you are not alone. Many have the same feelings as you.

Some are afraid that if they did try to repent and draw near to God, they might find out they were unacceptable for some reason and they wouldn’t be able to bear that. Others are afraid that if they ever did succeed at being close to God, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their spirituality. Their experience tells them they would only fall back into sin again. They have tried to "repent" many times, but have kept having the same problems with very little improvement. Long term inability to experience greater purity before the Lord has lead many to believe they don’t deserve to be closer to God.

Others are afraid that repentance means that God is asking them to give up something that He has no intention to replace—here and now. This is not true! God offers you His presence—freely and abundantly by His grace.

Much of the reason for this fear goes back to our a deeply held belief that we should have to earn everything that we receive—so much so that God’s grace hardly makes sense to us.

Believing we should have to "deserve" what we receive from God—whether forgiveness, love, or His presence with us—results in combinations of pride and fear that keep us distracted from God, pursuing earthly things, and also makes us afraid to be intimately close to the Lord. The resulting pride and fear keeps us living by faith in our own efforts to deserve what we receive from God and not by faith in His grace. But this is reason for repentance with joy—it is not reason for self-condemnation! 

When you catch yourself doing something wrong, ask for forgiveness as you need to, but do so without self-condemnation. You must react with delight to repent, or you will cower and close up inside and won't be able to receive God's presence.

Biblical repentance is a process that eases your fears about turning from your earthly ways and enjoying the presence of the Lord. Begin now to think of repentance as a process of patiently dealing with the reasons you tend to hold back from God. Think of repentance as a process that continually makes it easier and easier for you to turn and draw near to the Lord.

You can experience God’s presence here and now! You just need to repent in keeping with the grace of God to draw near to you. Doing so, is much more effective, much less painful, and much more filling than earthly sources can supply.

Thank the Lord, out loud that you don’t have to be afraid to repent. Listen to what you are saying. You don’t have to hold back.

For eBooks click here