8-2-2015 The Need Of Repentance

From time to time I get letters
from prisoners. I received one
recently, from a man who wanted
to be ordained as a pastor. He
said, he had been through 2 years
of a discipleship program from
something he called “House of
Miracles” ministry. He went on to
say how he’d gotten out of jail,
gone out for what he called “a night
of fun,” and then he said “now I’m looking at life.” It
was a “third strike” felony. He wrote how back in again,
he prayed to receive Jesus as his savior. He wanted
me to tell him if he was really saved.
I wrote back and told him only he and God could
truly know that, but then I questioned him as to his
understanding of repentance. There are so many
who think that salvation is just saying you believe in
Jesus an praying a prayer. Jesus preached the need
of repentance with faith. If there is no willingness to
turn from sin to Christ, there’s no salvation. The devil
himself believes in Jesus, I explained to this man that
if he was saved, he’d now also have a new desire for
change, God gives the Christian grace, not so we can
fulfill out own carnal desires, but so we can live like He
wants us to. Being truly saved does deliver us from the
eternal consequences of our sins, but we still have to
face the present consequences. We need the grace
and mercy of God for that too!