Episode 46: The Belief That Keeps You From the Blessing of Repentance

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The belief that keeps you from the blessing of repentance is the belief that repentance is only for when you sin.

You might be thinking, yes that is exactly what repentance is for. And you are right, it is. However, it is not the ONLY use we have for repentance and this belief will keep you from connecting with the Savior more in your life. So, I am going to show you some amazing resources to open your mind to another possibility for repentance so you can more often utilize the Savior’s power in your life.

Christ not only atoned for the sins that we will inevitably commit while we are on Earth, He atoned for our heartaches, burdens and the pains of living in a fallen world. So don’t you think we can utilize repentance for that purpose as well? Let’s first look up what repentance means in the bible dictionary. 

“The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined.”

There is so much in this definition so let's break it down to help you use the blessing of repentance more in your life. First, let’s look at the phrase “repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God."

My guess is that your heart is now turned to God 100% of the time, I know mine isn’t. I know that because you have a natural man inside of you that keeps that from happening all the time. We all do. This definition even says we are naturally inclined to sin. Meaning we have something inside of us that causes us to turn away from God.

It is the opposition that was placed inside of us at the fall of Adam and Eve. The Natural Man was placed in us as part of God’s plan to enact agency. That opposition we get from the natural man gives us the opportunity to turn or return back to God.

The Atonement of Christ isn’t just for sin, it is also for the burdens we bear in this fallen world.

It is important to remember that we don’t have to make mistakes or actively break a commandment to be pushed into that natural man state. The experiences we have in this fallen world can also cause our natural man to wake up. In fact, this is a concept I teach in depth about in my Removing Roadblocks to Revelation group coaching program. I teach you how to remove the internal battles you have due to circumstances in your life that are caused by living in a fallen world. 

When your natural man wakes up and becomes active you are in essence turned away from God because the natural man is an enemy to God.  Which means, opposite of God. When that happens you have agency to choose whether or not you turn or return back to God in that moment.

It’s not always easy and there are a lot of thoughts that keep you from returning back in those moments. But when you do, you are essentially repenting right? You are turning, or returning, back to God!

Now let us look at another part of that definition. It states, “ a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world." The natural man plays a part here as well. What do you think the natural man thoughts sound like? Do you think they are encouraging, helpful or kind? 

No. They are not from God. Therefore, they are discouraging, helpless, an unkind. They are the opposite of Him and the thoughts He has for you. When you repent, or in other words, choose to turn and return back to God in those moments, your thoughts will change.

You will then be able to access God’s power and love. Thus allowing the Spirit to reveal to you a fresh view about God, yourself and your circumstances. In the mental health world we call that a mindset change, parents call it an attitude change, God calls it repentance.

When you widen your view about what repentance is, you will more fully partake of the blessings it can provide you.

One of my favorite things to do is to look up a word in the Topical Guide then follow certain words to see what other meanings might come from it. So I did that for the word repentance. The words that stood out to me were Problem-solving, return and turn. We have already talked about return and turn so lets dive into problem solving.

When you click on the word problem-solving the words faith, access to God, and prayer come up. What came to my mind when I read those words is that when you problem solve with God you are using the blessing of repentance. 

When you have a problem you can turn to God to access His power through prayer and faith. Essentially you  can use repentance to solve the problems in your life. Problems in your life are an opportunity to repent and return or turn to Christ for help and power to solve them.

When you do that you are practicing daily repentance. Which is exactly what we are asked to do in the sacrament prayer.

If you’re wanting some skills to learn how to turn back to God in those moments when the natural man wakes up, then jump on my waitlist for the Removing Roadblocks to Revelation Group Coaching Program.  I will be opening it up again this spring and you will be the first to know if you’re on that waitlist. I also usually add in something special for those that are on the waitlist.