confession vs. true repentance.

[sapman]

Hi everyone,

I struggle with sins including but not limited to lust, pride, and slander.

EverytimeI sin, I confess it to the Lord...however lately, I feel a certain prompting in my heart that even though I confess, I have not truly repented of my sins. I do know that salvation is not only accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, but that a person also needs to repent and turn away from sin, in order to truly accept the gift of salvation.

My question now is that since, I keep sinning over and over again, have I truly repented of my sins or not ? Sometimes, I even KNOWINGLY sin, i.e. even before I committed the act, (say lustful thoughts..), I know in my heart that it is wrong, but yet I still go ahead and do it, knowing that it is sinning.


looking forward to everyone's comments about this.....

blessings,
SAPMAN

 

[madison1101]

When I struggle with repeat sins, I read Psalm 51. I read it personally, and aloud, and ask the Lord to soften my heart to my need for repentance. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in your heart.

 

[mikeforjesus]

When u fall get up its like when ur a baby and u try to learn to walk.. the father of the baby expects him to fall a couple of times before he learns to walk .. who is your Father here - Your Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ hehe and u are the baby.
But if u just sit there and stay how u are u will never be victorious , therefore u must struggle.. the difference between your situation and the analogy is that you have God to fight for you.. u just dont have to give up. I read this somewhere.
Peace and God Bless!

 

[perfection]

Having sexual thoughts is normal to say the least, you won't get rid of them and that's normal also. What you have to understand is that it's completely normal to have sex. But that you truelly have to love the person that you are doing it with. That's the difference between sex and sin.

It's just that you have to try your best in avoiding sinfull acts (mainly by being occupied doing other things)

Try to put God instead of yourself on the throne of your life. If you do everything humanly possible in order to please God instead of yourself, you be on the right track. Try to approuch this , because anything without love is meaningless. So if your thoughts are without love for that person you want to have lust with then it's a sin, but if your truelly care for this person and love that person then its not. Try to find peace with yourself.

 

[Bain_Adaneth]

Hi Sapman,
I believe you have not turned away from your sin...I used to be in that same cycle....I believe that after you truely repent and turn away from sin, then your life does show that you are a true Christian, and a true believer in Christ! Because people who don't trust in God, do not follow God. Show God that you really mean it by totally surrendering your life to him.. If you truelyrepent, believe me, you will be so sorry for all that you've done......In order to be sorry, you've gotta hate what you've done...For example it doesn't make sense to get high, and repent when you still feel like it was a good thing that you did...you have to know deep inside that what you did was wrong, and that you're really sorry that you did this....for example have you ever had those times where you hurt someone, oh, but you never meant to, and you're so sorry that you would probably give anything just to take it back, and when they forgive you, you're like,"thank you! God!".......well are you that sorry for the things you've done against God? or not even close?

 

[mmreed]

I think for many, confession can be just a proceedure...the act of confessing... speaking of them, admitting them.... I think people can confess without repentance...that they somehow justify that since they confessed, it is ok....

I think what is truly needed is confession with repentance... repentance is the inner feelings, the emotional desire to not sin. Repentance is feeling the love of God working in us to want to be faithful and admitting we need his help.

There is so much more it also... Im learning everyday.

 

[Everglaze]

All I can say is...it's really hard.

Trusting God alone is hard enough...because humans have uncertainties. I have the same problem as you do sapman and truly understand where you're coming from. I have pride...I don't slander but I do lust.

I don't think there is a single person out there who doesn't though. Repenting is turning over for the better. Many times, I believe that I haven't truly repented because I keep sinning. It's a really difficult concept to grasp.

It's especially difficult if you make that particular sin a habit...then it just gets worse. I've prayed and prayed, felt guilty...but it's the lack of self-control...the fruit that I'm missing. It also leads you to think, "Gee, do I really love God? If I did, I wouldn't be sinning like this."

And even if you do turn to God and confess all of the time, only to go back and do it again...you need to put the fear of the Lord in you by reading verses that specifically focus on that.

Many times, it feels like I'm taking his grace for granted...and I hate that. I truly wish I could repent but so many times, the temptation is just too much...

It's a guilty chain of slavery...but that's why it's really essential to spend as much as time as you can with God and to have accountability partner at church, etc...

You can help each other out at times like these...help to free you from the chains of these sins.

 

[plainswolf]

Hi everyone,

I struggle with sins including but not limited to lust, pride, and slander.

EverytimeI sin, I confess it to the Lord...however lately, I feel a certain prompting in my heart that even though I confess, I have not truly repented of my sins. I do know that salvation is not only accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, but that a person also needs to repent and turn away from sin, in order to truly accept the gift of salvation.

My question now is that since, I keep sinning over and over again, have I truly repented of my sins or not ? Sometimes, I even KNOWINGLY sin, i.e. even before I committed the act, (say lustful thoughts..), I know in my heart that it is wrong, but yet I still go ahead and do it, knowing that it is sinning.


looking forward to everyone's comments about this.....

blessings,
SAPMAN

Pray for contrition for your sins. And pray much for this. Do not confuse that because you may not feel sorrow in the lower parts of your being, that is in a physical-emotional way that you do not neccessarily know it with the higher parts of you, that is, with your intellect.

You must first know it is wrong, then pray that you may feel it is wrong. Certain habitual sins, especially if commited over many years, loose their shock value and thus take longer to uproot from ourselves. Pray for the grace of contrition for it even if it takes a year of daily prayer for this, for surely God wants to grant you this but we must ask..and we shall receive.

God's time is not our own. And the longer it takes for God to act upon our prayers, the greater His answer shall be.

J.M.J.
Mark