If you’re reading this, it may be because you’ve felt a drawing in your heart to come near to God. If that’s your experience, you can know that the Heavenly Father has specifically chosen you to be a part of His family (see John 6v44).
I experienced this myself many years ago, where I just knew I had to be right with God and I didn’t want to be left with uncertainty about where I would spend eternity. Once I understood that all the things I have done wrong in this life separated me from God, it broke my heart to realise I had sinned against Him. If this is you too, you can know complete freedom from all the heavy weight of guilt on your life by repenting of your sins before God.
To repent simply means to turn; specifically, to turn to God. Repentance was the first thing Jesus commanded people to do before He began healing and delivering them from their sicknesses, diseases, demons and infirmities. He was calling people to do a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn away from their sinful lives, to walk in the opposite direction and follow Him as their Lord. He was calling them to step off the wide path that leads to destruction and to step onto the narrow path that leads to His kingdom (see Matthew 7v13-14), as that is where healing and restoration begins.
His call to us today remains the same - Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!
The Bible teaches us that there are two ways of being sorry for our sins, but only one way leads to salvation. The first is Godly sorrow and the second is worldly sorrow.
Godly sorrow: These people experience complete brokenness and deep sorrow for having hurt others and for having sinned against God, which causes them to run from their sin and completely turn their life around. These people are spiritually born again into a brand new life in Christ.
Worldly “sorry” / sorrow: People who experience this type of sorrow are sorry for getting caught in their sins, with no sense of responsibility or remorse for how they have hurt others and sinned against God. They are simply sorry their bad behaviour has been exposed and have no intention of turning away from their wickedness. These people continue on the wide path to destruction which results in spiritual death.
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”
2 Corinthians 7v10 (NLT, emphasis added)
God is calling you to a life that is free and light, not weighed down with guilt and shame. (See Hebrews 10v19-22) That kind of freedom can only be found by being right with Him. He made it possible for each of us to be right with Him by sending His only Son, Jesus, to save all people from their sins. Turning away from our old life and choosing to follow Jesus is the only way we can be free from our sin, and is also the only way we can receive forgiveness from God. Once we are forgiven by Him, all things become right between us and God and we experience indescribable love, joy and peace. I can testify that living right with God is the free life and I would never want to go back to the way I lived before.
Some convince themselves that they are good people and don’t need to repent
There are many caring and wonderful people in this world who have never repented, as they do not want to follow Jesus. They do not believe they have done anything worthy of going to hell. Others have suffered deep trauma at the hands of others and believe that only abusive people need to say sorry or are deserving of hell. Then others still are openly prideful, yet likeable, and do good deeds from time to time, and even throw up a prayer to God occasionally.
All of these types of people have decided to live their own way and have convinced themselves that somehow God will allow them into heaven based on their good efforts or by comparing their morals with others around them. This kind of mentality is called self-righteousness and these types of people don’t understand that this kind of belief is leading them on the wide path to destruction.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1v8-10
Those who are counting on their own efforts (self-righteousness) have been cleverly deceived by the devil to believe a common lie - that they are the boss of their life and in control of where they will spend eternity. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to God and He is the one who decides who will enter life with Him for eternity. He has made it clear that no one can receive eternal life except through the righteousness ('rightness’ with God) that comes through Jesus Christ alone. (See Matthew 5v20, 1 Corinthians 6v9-11, John 14v6)
Do you want certainty about where you will be spending eternity?
If you’re ready in your heart to repent, you can use this prayer below as a guide:
Prayer of Repentance
“Lord, I am so sorry that I’ve been living my own way. I feel completely broken in my heart for having rebelled against You, and for doing things that separated me from You. I repent, I turn away from living my own way, and choose to give my whole life to You."
"I acknowledge that sin is completely wrong and I no longer want to live that way. I hate all the sin I’ve been involved in and I’m so sorry I have caused You great sorrow Lord [1]. I realise in doing so, I rejected You and Your love toward me. Please forgive me. My heart is full of sorrow for having touched things I shouldn’t have touched, for having said things I shouldn’t have said, for having looked at and gotten involved in things I never should have gone near. All these things have made me unclean [2] and I realise I need to be cleansed of all my sins. Help me Lord, as I need Your mercy to save me from all the wrong things I have done.”
Take a moment with God
Take some time now to tell God what you have done wrong and fully confess it. When it comes to true repentance, we need to take the time to prepare our hearts sincerely and humbly before God in readiness to turn away from our old life. It is important to name our sin for what it is and not give it a name that makes it sound less awful. If it’s lust for looking at other women, call it lust and not “wandering eyes.” If it’s lying, call it lying and not “I have a problem with the truth.” If it’s gossip, call it gossip or slander or witchcraft, and don’t say, “I have a problem with talking about others.” Call it the worst thing that it is and own up to it in full, that way you will have brought everything into the light and the devil won’t be able to accuse you of it anymore. Once you have fully confessed your sin, it is out in the open, which is an important step to receiving freedom from guilt and shame.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,…”
Romans 8v1
Once you have repented of your sins you can continue to pray:
“Thank you God that you accept the completely honest and sincere prayer of repentance. I declare out loud that Jesus is Lord and I believe in my heart that You, God, raised Him from the dead [3]. I choose to believe that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, You give me complete victory over sin and death [4]. I willingly choose to follow Your Son Jesus and give over my life to Him today. I receive Your forgiveness for all of my sins Lord, and believe that You wash them away by the blood of Jesus which was poured out when He gave His life and died on the cross.”
“…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1v7
“You wash me clean by the blood of Jesus, as He was a perfect sacrifice for my sins. I receive a completely new start today as a new person [5]. Because Jesus took all my punishment on my behalf, all my sins have been paid for and I am now right with God [6]. I’m born again, a new creation, and can now live just as if I’d never sinned [7].”
“Now that I’m following You, I will do as you direct me in Your Word (the Bible). You taught that we must believe and be baptised, so that we completely die to our old life and rise with You into our new life [8].”
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Mark 16v16
“Thank You for loving me heavenly Father. Thank You for saving me Jesus. I receive Your Spirit to empower me to follow Jesus from this day forward for the rest of my life.”
We encourage you to tell another believer that you have prayed this prayer, to help you in your new journey of following Jesus. We would love to hear from you and you’re welcome to send us a message on the contact form if you’d like us to pray for you. We are not an organisation, simply people who love Jesus and are excited with you that you’ve joined His family of believers. The next step is to be baptised in water and we’d love to connect with you online if you’d like some help knowing how to go about this.
Read about receiving the Holy Spirit
Genesis 6v6 “The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” ↩︎
Isaiah 64v6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;…” ↩︎
Romans 10v9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (NIV) ↩︎
1 Corinthians 15v57 “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIV) ↩︎
2 Corinthians 5v17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (NIV) ↩︎
Isaiah 53v11 “…And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.” ↩︎
John 3v7 “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” (NIV) ↩︎
John 3v5 "Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.’” (NIV) ↩︎