The Secret Place: 21 Day DevotionalSample

FIRM FOUNDATION

1 John 1:8-9

As Jesus began His ministry, the message of the day was ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’. It wasn’t ‘your breakthrough is around the corner!’ or ‘every mountain that stands before you is coming down!’ While these statements are not incorrect, they are not foundational biblical truths that we need to build a strong and healthy life on Christ. Any physical building with a weak foundation will fall, and it won’t stand the test of time. Similarly, when building ourselves up in this most holy faith, a repentant heart is fundamental. It allows us to rid ourselves of the habits and lifestyles that are hindering us to get closer to God. It prohibits us from having an effective and powerful prayer life and gives room for the enemy to attack.

Simply put, if we as Christians don’t understand the importance of repentance, we will fail. When we lay the foundation of a repentant heart correctly, when (not if) we sin, we will run to God and not away from Him. When we talk about sin, we are not just talking about turning away only at the time of saying the sinner’s prayer, but when we find ourselves opening small doors for the enemy, such as bursts of anger, jealousy, and gossip. This involves taking sin to God daily and dealing with it, asking for a change of heart, which leads to a change in lifestyle. Every year, as we walk with God, we should level up our holiness and testify about the changes in our own lives.

Proverbs 24:16 (TPT) says, “For the lovers of God (the righteous) may suffer adversity and stumble seven times, but they will continue to rise over and over again. But the unrighteous are brought down by just one calamity and will never be able to rise again.” Until we return to be with God in heaven, we will deal with sin in our lives and must embrace God cleansing us and changing us year after year. The scripture says that though we may stumble, we will rise over and over again - because a righteous man is a man who repeats repentance. This is a daily exercise. God spoke to His people in the book of Joel 2:13: “Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough.” Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and full of mercy; He is patient and keeps His promise; He is always ready to forgive and not punish.”

In summary, biblical repentance is turning away from sin. It is a change of heart and a change of attitude leading to a change of action. We must expose sin in our lives, rather than hide or conceal it. Repentance must always be step one to being born again, but also something that we continuously come back to, no matter how old we are in the faith.