Repent! Gk: Metanoeo: It means “to perceive afterwards, implying to change.” Think of it as making a “Spiritual U-Turn.”
If you read Jesus’ messages to the seven churches in Revelation Chapters 2 & 3, you will see the word “repent” used eight times. The only churches not called upon to repent are Smyrna and Philadelphia. Poor Ephesus and Thyatira are each told twice to “repent!”
Whether we recognize it or not, the call to repent is still very much alive today. It is a call for repentance of both personal and corporate sin. As seekers for God’s presence to awaken the church, there must be a strong recognition of sin.
While the sin of our nation may not be mine personally, it is mine by association. I am a Christian and I am a citizen. Just as Nehemiah, Samuel, Daniel, Moses, and other intercessors identified with their nation in their day – and interceded in repentance – so must we if we want to see a spiritual awakening.
Repentance, as I said, requires a convicting awareness of sin. Unfortunately, we do not talk much about sin anymore. We talk about personal choices and discuss gray areas of behavior and attitudes. Sin and obedience are words that are disappearing from our vocabulary – even in the church!
It’s time to resurrect them, beloved. If we don’t have an awareness of what it means to obey God, or a conviction about the consequences of disobeying God (sin), we will not have a spiritual awakening. Honestly, I’m tired of slumbering through life.
To my own heart I say, Awaken! Repent!
