2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

What is REPENTANCE?

• effective repentance does not take place in my mind but in my heart. It is more than simply saying to/in my mind I was wrong but it is feeling in my heart that I was wrong. I took a wrong turn and I will change direction back to God.
  • If I can’t detect my heart, which is similar to my conscience, but only am aware of my mind and flesh–bodily impulses–then I have a hard heart (Hebrews 3:10ff) and cannot rely upon any promise of God for I am dead to God.
• realizing there is nothing else more important that feeling the Comforter’s presence (John 14:16) and rest (Hebrews 3:11) for it is life itself (John 1:4) and nothing to be compared to the cares of this world (Matthew 13:22) counting them as loss for Christ (Philippians 3:7,8).
• I was led astray from God’s ways (Hebrews 3:10; Isaiah 55:8).
• stop justifying my actions as if I am the adjudicator. Understand and acknowledge to myself my specific actions are what is called sin (Romans 14:23; 1 Corinthians 15:56; James 4:17; 1 John 5:17) against a personal God, not mistakes against abstract principles, nor illegal acts against the State but something NOT TO DO because of its results–death, defined as separation from God.
• It is being aware of the results derived from those actions:
  • loss of life–general spiritual vibrancy, capabilities, detection but specifically
  • feeling distance from God the Holy Spirit in my heart/spirit–grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30);
  • access to His felt presence,
  • impressions of knowledge and direction/wisdom (Hebrews 3:15)
  • receiving substantial spiritual gifts that come from quieting my internal self, waiting for and listening to Him, being fearless to accept what I hear, obey and do what I hear–that makes me a complete whole, human being.
  • feeling like a hollow being.
• apologizing directly to God in earnest prayer for my actions and ignorant misdirection.
• back tracking (1 Corinthians 11:31) to examine what I did with my flesh (Romans 7, 8:11; James 4:4), or adopted an evil, unbelieving heart (Hebrews 3:12; Romans 14:23) or became friends with the world (James 4:4; Romans 8:13) and choosing the deceptive (Hebrews 3:13; Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19; ) path.