Daily writing prompt

What does it mean to be a kid at heart?

View all responses

To follow pride
Is not a good guide.
It keeps you stuck inside
A trap of wrong thinking
And wrongdoing.
A childlike heart knows
How to set aside pride
And say, “I’m sorry.”
Please forgive me.

It is a liberating statement to humbly and sincerely say to God or to a person: “I have sinned against Heaven and against you.” (Luke 15:21) Jesus calls that realization and confession, repentance. (Matthew 4:17)

Admitting, being sorry for, and quickly turning away from your sins is an essential part of having an intimate, ongoing, heart-to-heart relationship with God and with people. Persisting in wrongful thoughts, desires, words, and behaviors quenches God the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) It hinders and hampers your relationship with God and with people.

Repentance isn’t just a onetime prayer. It’s a lifestyle — an ongoing attitude — a heart that’s aware that it needs to continually depend on God’s mercy, forgiveness, and new birth. Jesus put it this way: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5

How’s your repentance level — high or low? When was the last time you confessed wrong thinking or wrongdoing to God and to a human being? (James 5:16)

God the Holy Spirit is nearby. (Acts 17:28) He wants to establish and maintain His government within you so that His living water can freely flow from within you. (John 7:38-39) To repent is to align your will, your thoughts, and your actions with the direct government of God (His kingdom ruling your life from within). (Matthew 6:33)

Frequently ask God to show you where you are out of His will in your thinking, your desires, your words, or your actions. Then let His light shine in your heart (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) and begin to daily realign with God’s will and with His presence. Frequently confess and repent and you will live a life that is bathed in and invigorated by God’s mercy, grace, presence, and power!

God’s call to repentance is good news! It is an invitation to experience and enjoy the presence of God and the amazing fruit that His Spirit wants to produce within you throughout your life on earth and then forever after.

The call to repentance is a loving warning that what you are putting out day by day is going to come back to you with full force. Everything bad you have thought, said, or done is working to bring you severe eternal consequences. Christ’s invitation to repentance is marvelous good news of the offer of freedom, forgiveness, and eternal life.

A warning isn’t good news to people who don’t believe that they are in any danger. For those who wake up to a warning, however, it is great news that they can avoid the harm and injury coming their way.

Repentance, alignment with God, is an ongoing attitude. It’s not an occasional prayer. Embrace it and live it every day. Experience the joy of Christianity. (Google: The Joy of Early Christianity.)