Connecting better or reconnecting with God
Nicole’s testimony (3)
Over the course of our lives, we encounter very different personalities. This diversity is a source of enrichment, but sometimes also a source of tension.
Confronted to a person who acted with cowardice
One day I was dealing with a person who was acting in a cowardly manner. I suddenly realised that if I were to be in his situation, I would have acted in the same way to preserve my personal comfort. In God’s sovereignty, his behaviour served as a mirror for me and reminded me of my own cowardice in specific situations.
My repentance to reconnect with God
I then came to the Lord to repent and receive His forgiveness, and I used the 4Rs:
– Lord, I RECOGNIZE my cowardice, my weakness, my passivity, my hypocrisy, my silence to protect my personal comfort, and I ask for your forgiveness;
– I RESIST my cowardice, I REJECT it, Lord, I RENOUNCE it, because like you, I condemn it;
– You REPLACE my cowardice with courage, assurance and firmness. You RENEW me. I start again, Lord, in the opposite direction to the one I had been going;
– Lord, I RECEIVE your characteristics, which allow me to live, as it is your will/desire freed from my cowardice. I welcome the opposite of weakness and hypocrisy.
Therefore, with respect for others and for myself, I will affirm what I believe, what I think; I choose to not remain silent for the sake of convenience; I will not back down when You want me to express myself.
Lord, You have not given me a spirit of timidity, weakness or fear, but a spirit of power, love and wisdom (2 Tim. 1:7).
I allow myself to be FILLED with your abundance, Lord, to experience you in my daily life, and I rejoice to be free from the ball and chain of cowardice and the fear of others’gaze.
(Re)connecting with God: a constructive approach
As illustrated above, repentance consists of four constructive steps.
Firstly, it is a matter of recognising what is wrong, in partnership with the Lord and asking Him for forgiveness.
Secondly, we decide to resist this negative element, because we no longer want it to impact our lives and those of others.
Next, we come to the Lord for Him to replace that negative characteristic with its opposite (in the above example, cowardice with assertiveness),
and we finally take the fourth step by receiving from Jesus Christ, through His Spirit, that will enable us to sin no more in the area for which we have just asked forgiveness.
(Re)connecting with God: a beneficial approach
In other words, repentance is not just about recognising and renouncing what is wrong. It is also about welcoming the divine elements that we were not expressing. This is wonderful! God wants to fill us with His spirit so that we live liberated!
This 4Rs process of repentance is simple, but it is often an journey of inner struggle.
The more we practice the four-step repentance, the more we make it our own and realise its effectiveness in our daily lives. We are in training; let us remember that the blood of Jesus cleanses us of every short-coming (1 John 1:7,9). God is on our side; He wants us to live free and to express Him!
Have a nice day!
This message is a personal application of advice given by Mike Riches during the course “Living Free”, a course regularly organised by Campus for Christ, and which I recommend to you.
This message is an illustration of Resource 5 on the page RESOURCES.