Faith Brings On Repentance
Gospel Basics Series: The Gospel Of Jesus Christ/h3>
Repentance is the second principle of the gospel. Faith is the first gospel principle. Faith inspires and motivates us to repent. Repentance is a change of thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that are against God’s will. Repentance is to align our wills with God’s will and to change anything that is against His will. There are absolutes and God will never change. The world is quickly becoming polarized opposites from the standard of God. Many years ago the world and the church were closely compatible, but that is no longer the case. Years ago you had to seek after filth such as pornography, today it finds you.
Repentance is changing your paradigm of God. It involves changing you and your role in the world. Repentance is feeling godly sorrow, and this sorrow helps motivate us to stop doing the wrong things we have done and begin doing the right things.
The whole purpose of our life is to return to live with God the Father. We can only live with Him through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ will only give us His grace and mercy when we repent. Repentance qualifies us to live with God the Father. If we don’t repent, we will not make it.
Repentance involves steps, but going through the steps will not help you much if your attitude is not right. You could go through all the steps without Christ forgiving or healing you. Repentance works when you are serious about following Jesus Christ.
Here are the steps to repentance.
- Recognize your sins and feel godly sorrow. Godly sorrow is not being caught for doing wrong. Godly sorrow is being aware that you offended God, whether you were caught by someone else or not.
- Confess your sins to God. If your sins were serious, confess them to your church leaders. Sexual sins fall into that category.
- Pray to God for forgiveness.
- Make restitution. You do all you can to fix the problem you caused.
- Stop sinning. Increase your resolve to be obedient.
You know repentance is working when you lose your desire for sin. The Book of Mormon speaks of the natural man or carnal man. The natural man does not resist temptation and has a weak attitude toward sin. We conquer the natural man when we hate sin and defend ourselves against temptation.
A fruit of repentance is keeping the commandments with a stronger zeal than we have ever had. We also feel His forgiveness and His peace. You will still remember your sin. Remembering your sin will help you stop it. Even though you will remember it you will not be tormented by it anymore. You feel the spirit in greater abundance from repenting.
Jesus Christ forgives your sins that you properly repent of. He will not hold those against you at judgment day. It will be as if you didn’t commit the sin and is wiped clean from your record.
Chapel Address and contact information: 1928 E. South Campus Drive, Salt Lake City; (University of Utah, next to the institute) 801-562-8089. You can also call 801-259-6709 for the mission home in Midvale if you want to talk to someone.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a worldwide church. Most likely there is a chapel near you.
Go here to find a chapel near you if you don't live in the Salt Lake City, Utah area.
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