Tag Archives: repentance

October 27, 2025 · 5:42 AM

Finding Hidden Motives

Years ago, when I first became a store manager for a major retailer, I was sent to training. They showed us multiple scenarios and taught us how to handle them. One such series of videos had people acting out of character and then trying hard to justify their behavior. They taught us not to overreact in those situations. Instead, we were to take the person to a private office to have a conversation. We were to point to the behavior, state that it was out of character and then ask, “What do I need to know about what’s going on in your life?” That question would often reveal hidden situations or motives behind their behavior. Once we discovered the heart of the issue, we could change the behavior.

In Luke 12, Jesus was teaching on hypocrisy when someone called out from the crowd, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me!” On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable request and one that’s justified. Also, in those days, rabbis would solve such problems for people. However, Jesus didn’t resolve the matter for him. Instead He said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own” (NLT). Jesus didn’t treat the issue, He treated the heart. The man was hiding behind fairness, security and justice, but Jesus saw the hidden motive and addressed it.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” We all fall into the hidden motives trap. Our requests to God for things or justification to others for our actions come from selfish motives at times. David knew that about himself and prayed this prayer often. When you ask God to look in your heart, test your thoughts and to point out things that offend Him, He will point to the root of the issue because that’s the only way to deal with fruit from hidden motives. We must be willing to be honest about what’s really going on inside and be willing to repent so that He can lead us along the path to everlasting life.

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July 16, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Changing Direction

One of the questions I pose to leaders is a good question to ask yourself. Imagine you are going from Houston to Jacksonville, Florida on Interstate 10. After a day of driving, you end up in El Paso, Texas, what would you do? Would you turn around and head back toward Houston or keep driving and reevaluate in Phoenix, Arizona? The correct answer is easy in this scenario, but in real life, we tend to keep going toward Phoenix. We rationalize that decision because of how much time, money and effort we’ve put into it. However, no amount of time, money or effort is going to get you to your destination until you change course.

In Luke 19, Jesus was walking through Jericho and everyone crowded the roads trying to see him. Zacchaeus, who had become rich by overtaxing people, wanted to see Him too. He climbed up a tree and Jesus saw him. Jesus then went to his house for dinner. People were upset that Jesus was hanging out with a despised sinner. Then in verse 8 we read, “Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!’” (NLT) Jesus saw that Zacchaeus had changed direction and said, “Salvation has come to this home today.”

Psalm 119:59 says, “I considered my ways And turned my feet to [follow and obey] Your testimonies” (AMP). Take a look at your life. Each of us need to consider our ways often. Are we headed the wrong direction in certain areas of our life? Are we like Jonah and going the opposite direction from what God called us to? We need to be willing to turn our feet to follow and obey God’s ways. Like Zacchaeus we need to repent, which means to change directions. God’s blessings follow our obedience. It’s not always easy to admit we need a change of direction, but we can’t afford to keep going the wrong way. There’s too much at stake.

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June 24, 2025 · 5:32 AM

Repentance And Obedience

Author Max Lucado shared the story of being on an airplane years ago. Somewhere in the middle of the flight the captain came over the speakers to alert the passengers about upcoming turbulence. He told everyone to take their seats and buckle up. A minute or so later, he made the announcement again. Max thought it was weird because everyone sat down. Then the pilot made the announcement again a few minutes later and added, “This includes the lady in the restroom.” An embarrassed, red faced woman came out, found her seat and took her seat. His point was that like the pilot, God will do whatever it takes to get our attention to get us to repent or to get ys where we need to go, even if it’s embarrassing or hurts.

It makes me think of Jonah. God called him to a city he didn’t want to go to because he didn’t like the people. Instead of obeying, he bought a ticket on a ship going the opposite direction. God sent a great storm, but Jonah didn’t repent. Instead, he dug his heels in. The storm got worse and the crew cast lots to find out Jonah was at fault. Again, instead of repenting, he asked them to cast him in the sea. He was going to die before he obeyed. However, God prepared a big fish to swallow him and take him back so he could obey. During his three days in the belly of the fish, he repented. The fish spit him out on the beach, and Jonah obeyed.

Acts 3:19 says, “And now you must repent and turn back to God so that your sins will be removed, and so that times of refreshing will stream from the Lord’s presence” (TPT). Peter spoke this truth and it’s relevant to us today. What has God asked you to do that you haven’t done yet or are running from? A friend told me last week that simple obedience is the highest form of worship. If you’re running from what God called you to, it’s time to repent and obey. It’s better to do it before He tries to get your attention. I can speak from experience on this one myself. Don’t delay your obedience another day. God is reaching out to remind you that your obedience matters.

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April 7, 2025 · 5:48 AM

Obedience Brings Blessings

I’ve always tried to explain that rules are simply boundaries meant to keep you safe. My wife introduced a better concept to me. She said that rules are like a house. When you operate within them, you have protection from the elements outside. You have food and water with its walls to keep you fed. There’s also an air conditioner that keeps the climate controlled. The problem is that we like to go over to the window and imagine life is better outside the walls of the rules. When we go outside the rules, we open ourselves up to the weather, we have to search for food and water and we’re no longer protected.

God gave us a set of rules that are designed to operate like that. He offers us the choice between blessing and cursing, life and death. One is found in following the rules He’s asked us to live with in, and the other awaits us when we break them. In Jeremiah’s day, Israel had been living outside of God’s protection and the Babylonians had taken them hostage. In the book of Lamentations, he describes how hard their life is because they had broken God’s laws and had been living outside of the walls of His protection. In Lamentations 3:38-40 he wrote, “Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord” (NLT). He realized they were suffering the consequences of their behavior, but also knew God is full of mercy and grace.

Deuteronomy 28 tells of all the blessings and benefits of obedience. Verse 2 says, “You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:” since the Garden of Eden, our enemy has tried to get us to see God’s rules as restrictive and played to our pride. He’s tried to get us to step out of the protection God’s laws give so he can devour us. The truth is God’s laws are life and blessing to us. When we choose to operate within them, and live the life He has called us to live, He provides all we need. If you’ve gone outside of His laws, it’s only one step to be back within them. Repentance gives us God’s grace. Obedience brings His blessings. In Him, there is true freedom. The choice is always ours.

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January 10, 2024 · 5:48 AM

Responding To Correction

A few years ago I got a call from a friend who wanted to tell me she had been promoted to Assistant Manager of a store. I told her I was excited for her and scheduled a time to visit her. When I showed up, her enthusiasm had waned. She told me how a sales rep asked to meet with her in the office. He walked in and sat in the manager’s desk chair forcing her to sit on the other side. He then told her how there was nothing she could teach him. He said that he didn’t want her to offer him help during his sale, he didn’t want to be coached and that she just needed to stay out of his way. She asked what to do. I told her you can’t force someone to learn or to grow. I advised that she give as much value as she could to the other reps to help them improve as much as possible. We also discussed how to handle the disrespect.

After King David’s plan failed to cover his sin with Bathsheba, and he had her husband killed, he thought the situation was over. However, God wasn’t finished with it. In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan visited David to tell him a story. When the king’s anger raged at the man in the story, Nathan simply said, “You are the man!” David’s immediate response was repentance instead of defending. He penned Psalm 51 after this encounter as a prayer seeking God to change his heart. ”Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me“ (AMP). He still suffered the consequence of his sin, but he also continued to have God’s blessings because he received correction.

Proverbs 9:8 says, ”Do not correct a scoffer [who foolishly ridicules and takes no responsibility for his error] or he will hate you; Correct a wise man [who learns from his error], and he will love you.“ Which of these two men do you identify with when it comes to correction, learning and growth? Since no one is perfect, everyone is able to be corrected. When correction comes, we tend to defend ourselves or attack the person trying to help us as a defense mechanism. However, a wise person sees feedback and correction as a gift to make us better. The Holy Spirit will convict our heart when we sin in an effort to lead us to repentance or use someone else to get his message across. Will you be foolish and take no responsibility or like the wise who learns from his error? How we respond to correction exposes what’s hidden in our heart.

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September 22, 2022 · 5:30 AM

A Call To Repentance

I’m reading through the “Killing Kryptonite” devotional by John Bevere. In it he said, “Repentance means changing our mind so deeply that it changes our personality from the core of our being.” As I read that, I thought about today’s world. Our culture is just the opposite of that. As a society, we celebrate and encourage people to be who you are. The problem with that is that we are encouraging them to identify with their Adamic nature rather than the image of God that is in them. We encourage people to suppress the new creation God is trying to bring out in order to celebrate their sinful nature.

When God called us to repentance, He called us to leave behind our Adamic nature so we can identify with His fingerprint on our life. Repentance means to turn around and go the opposite direction. We are not just called to accept Jesus, but to repent as well. The old life is gone and God turns you into a new creation from the core of who you are. There is a transformation God wants to do in each one of us, but it’s up to us to turn away from the fingerprint of Adam on our life, which is a spiritual cancer that God wants to put into remission.

Acts 20:21 says, “I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus” (NLT). Repentance and confessing faith in Jesus go hand in hand. We change identities when these two things happen so that we become who God created us to be. We walk away from who we once were, and leave the path we were on in order to become a new creation and be Spirit led. Your transformation starts with salvation then begins when you turn around and walk towards the life God has for you.

Photo by Arina Krasnikova: Pexels

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.
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May 23, 2022 · 5:37 AM

Dirty Laundry

Have you ever got a stain in your clothes? Did you try to get it out immediately or let it sit until you washed it? I’ve done both. I’ve also sat at the washing machine with it trying every combination known to man to trust it so it would come out. There have been stains that no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them out. I finally have to give up, throw it in the washer and hope it comes out. Doing that is often how we approach sin in our lives. We see the stain and try everything to remove the consequences it leaves on our lives. They’re like stains that everyone can see. No matter what you or I do though, we can’t remove the guilt from it. Only God has that ability.

In 2 Samuel 11, it says that the annual time for kings to go to war had come around. Instead of going with the army, King David stayed home. He sent someone else to fight his battles. While he was home, he saw a beautiful woman and sent for her knowing she was married. She became pregnant after their encounter. David tried every combination known to man to remove the stain, but nothing worked. He then had her husband murdered to try to cover it up. God wasn’t pleased and sent the prophet Nathan to call him out and to bring judgement. Immediately 2 Samuel 12:13-14 says, “Then David confessed to Nathan, ‘I’ve sinned against God.’ Nathan pronounced, ‘Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin’” (MSG). Nathan continued to tell him he would still face consequences.

In his repentance, David wrote Psalm 51. In verses 1-3 he prayed, “Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down.” Confession and repentance are the keys to removing the stains sin leaves behind. Forgiveness is admitting you’ve done wrong and repentance is changing your way in order to not do it again. While God doesn’t always remove the consequences of our actions, He does forgive them. No matter how stained your life is, it’ll wash clean with God’s forgiveness. Quit trying to remove the guilt and stains yourself. Give your dirty laundry to God.

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April 1, 2022 · 5:37 AM

The Need For Repentance

Repentance is a word we like when it isn’t talking about us. It literally means to change direction or to make an about face. It involves us admitting we’re wrong, being sorry for it and then changing our ways. People don’t like to admit their wrong or change. They tend to change when they hurt enough they have to, learn enough they want to or they’re loved enough that they’re empowered to. We have been loved with an everlasting love by a holy God who encourages us, His people, to humble ourselves, repent and turn from our ways. Repentance isn’t just for the lost. It’s a practice we as believers must incorporate into our lives and practice as well.

Here are some Bible verses on repentance.

1. Fools mock the need for repentance, while the favor of God rests upon all his lovers.

Proverbs 14:9 TPT

2. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Romans 2:4 ESV

3. You must prove your repentance by a changed life.

Matthew 3:8 TPT

4. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

5. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience]; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].”

Isaiah 1:11 AMP

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February 3, 2022 · 5:30 AM

Spiritual Refreshing

When I was in high school, we would have 2 hour practices after school. Coach always started and ended practices with running. He would say, “Since we aren’t the tallest team, we are going to be the best conditioned team.” There were some brothers on the team who lived in some apartments across from the school. While running on hot afternoons, we would say to each other, “Hey, once this is over, let’s go jump in the apartment pool.” The thought of jumping into that cool water was often enough to keep us going.

There was something about diving head first into that water after practice that was so refreshing. We would swim from one end to the other under water to make sure our whole body got cooled down. It was so refreshing, and we needed that because a couple of us worked jobs in the evenings. After all day of school and a two hour practice, we still had a four hour shift to complete before coming home and doing homework. Refreshment was needed.

There are times when we need spiritual refreshing as well. Sometimes things seem to hit us one after the other. It feels like we never get a break from it all. Other times, we face the consequences of our actions, and those can lead us to spiritual exhaustion. The Bible says we can have spiritual refreshing in those times too. If you’re mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted, you may need to repent in order to experience a refreshing.

Acts 3:19 says, “So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day]” (AMP). When you repent, it’s like jumping into that pool after a two hour practice on a hot afternoon. God brings a refreshing into your life that also brings spiritual strength with it. Just like everything else in Scripture, the first step in activating God’s promises starts with you taking the first step.

What in your mind or life do you need to change today in order to return to God’s way of thinking?

If you haven’t been living for His purpose and you’re worn out, pray that God would help you to return to living for His purpose.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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May 24, 2021 · 6:01 AM

Goodness In Action

I was just telling my son, that Romans is my favorite book in the Bible. It’s full of so many treasures and some outright blunt speaking from Paul. One of which is Romans 2:4. It says, “Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?” (AMP) Through this verse, Paul revealed part of our salvation process and the change in our heart and mind that led us to seeking forgiveness for our sin. When you think back to when you received Jesus as your savior, there was kindness or goodness in action from God towards you that led you towards trusting in Him. That kindness created a change of heart in you. That same kindness that God demonstrated to you is the same kindness listed in the Fruits of the Spirit that we are to display to others.

In Genesis 43, Joseph’s brothers returned to Egypt for more grain. Joseph showed them kindness by feeding them at his own home. They knew they didn’t deserve this kindness as their consciences reminded them of what they had done to their brother. After having lunch with them, he planted a cup in Benjamin’s bag that was found later after they left. When he said Benjamin had to go to jail, Judah stood up and offered an act of kindness by saying he would take the punishment for Benjamin. When Joseph saw this, he knew their hearts had changed and he revealed himself to them. Forgiveness and restoration took place because kindness (goodness in action) was demonstrated when they didn’t deserve it.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you” (AMP). It’s not just God’s kindness that leads to repentance, it’s our goodness in action and forgiveness that points them to Jesus too. Who in your life least deserves kindness from you? We are to readily and freely forgive others just as Jesus readily and freely forgave us. We need to show kindness to those who have wronged us rather than to seek revenge. Pray for wisdom from God to help you forgive others and to show you ways to express His kindness to those who wronged you and to others you meet. We know that when others see our good works and goodness in action, they’ll glorify God and turn to Him.

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