Saturday, May 14, 2022

May 14, 2022 …Repent and Return …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 134


Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Steve Green singing … I Repent … poignantly singing of how we Christians who’ve sinned must return to God and humbly repenting of our sins.



==============

Highlight Passage [Context]: …   Joel 2:13 [NLT] …  

13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish..

…Joel, for God, calls His faithful to confession and repentance before it’s too late  at the day of the Lord’s coming.                              


Highlight Passage [Context]: … Joel 2:12-14 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…, thru the Prophet Joel, calls His people (and us) to recognize our sinful hearts and to repent so that God, in His mercy might bless those who would choose to confess and turn to God.         ===============                 .   


Reference Passage: … 2Chronicles 7:14 [NLT] … 

14 Then if my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  

… God, thru Solomon, to God’s people, calling them (and us now) to humbly return to God in repentance to receive His merciful forgiveness. .


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.” 

… Jesus, beginning His ministry after confronting and defeating Satan’s lies in the wilderness, charges His followers to repent of their sins because God’s kingdom was (and is) near.  


Reference Passage: … Acts 3:19 [NLT] … 

19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.  

… After Christ’s resurrection and ascension back to heaven, Peter preaches God’s call for His sinful people to repent and receive His forgiveness and salvation.  


Reference Passage: … 1John 1:9 [NLT] … 

But if we confess our sins to him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 

… God’s promise, thru John, that our Lord will cleanse the sins of any of His faithful who’re willing to confess and repent.


My Devotional JournalToday's Our Daily Bread author, Anne Boucher Pie … AT THIS LINK  tells about catching her son in a lie and his subsequent unwillingness, … at first,…  to confess, trying to cover up the sin with another lie, as many of us would do.  However, God’s Spirit ultimately convicted the boy to confess to his mom and to repent to receive his mom’s - and God’s - forgiveness.    

        

And I would expect that many of my readers could - and would - empathize with this ODB story.  It is certainly the case, in our sin nature, to reflexively want to cover up our sin with lies when uncovered in that sin.   Well, perhaps you, as I have this morning, take in the linked song and see the truth in the Scriptures above: and we realize that our God is certainly able - and most willing - to forgive us and cleanse us from any/all sins … IF … and only if, … we’re willing to confess and repent of those sins.  


How about it, my friend?  Is there anything we need to confess to our Lord today?   

        

My THANKFULNESS:: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for cleansing me from any/all past sin, as I come to You for Your forgiveness.     

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, …  to go to You, Lord, today to be cleansed from my sin.         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. 

No comments: