Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing … At Your Feet … poignantly singing of how Christians must lay our past at the foot of the cross and live.
True Repentance is a U-Turn to Christ ...
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ezekiel 18:27 [NLT] ... 27 And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives.
… Ezekiel’s prophesy on God’s people turning to God from their wicked ways.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ezekiel 18:25-32 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru the Prophet Ezekiel, charges His people to repent of their sins in order to be saved.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 28:19 [NLT] ... 13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
… The only way to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness is to confess and turn to Him and away from our sin.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 4:17 [NLT] ... 17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
… Throughout His ministry, Jesus preached the necessity for His Disciples to turn to God and away from self.
Reference Passage : … Acts 3:19-20 [NLT] ... 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.
… Peter preaches the need for repentance.
Reference Passage : … Romans 2:4 [NLT] ... 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
… Paul preached that God’s mercy and patience was to lead us sinners to repentance.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, uses a story about a prisoner being changed forever after reading God’s truth about repentance. … The ODB author wrote: When John, who ran the biggest brothel in London, was sent to prison, he falsely believed, I’m a good guy. While there, he decided to attend the Bible study at the prison because there was cake and coffee, but he was struck by how happy the other inmates seemed to be. He started to cry during the first song and later received a Bible. Reading from the prophet Ezekiel changed him, hitting him “like a thunderbolt.” He read, “But if a wicked person turns away from [their] wickedness . . . and does what is just and right, . . . that person will surely live; they will not die” (18:27–28). God’s Word came alive to him and he realized, “I wasn’t a good guy . . . I was wicked and I needed to change.” While praying with the pastor, he said, “I found Jesus Christ and He changed me.”
Old Testament and New Testament both [see Scriptures above] clearly teach that repentance is necessary for salvation. As sinners, when we repent of our sins and surrender to receive God’s saving grace, we are reconciled with Him and will live for and with Him FOREVER. However, one cannot find eternal life by confessing our sin and not being willing, in our hearts, to make the U-Turn of repentance to Christ which is necessary to become part of the family of God.
Oh, how I pray that all reading here have experienced the real repentance offered by God’s saving and sanctifying grace.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for leading me to turn around and follow You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, … to give up and turn from self to the Savior. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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