Miriam Platt Ministry
RECOGNITION OF SIN AND REPENTANCE
Seek the LORD while He can be found, call to Him while He is near. Let the wicked give up his ways, the sinful man his plans; let him turn back to the LORD, and He will pardon him; to our God, For He freely forgives. For My plans are not your plans, nor are my ways your ways─declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:6-
A long time ago, when I started to develop a relationship with the Lord and I began to understand the importance of repentance; I knew that if I truly wanted to repent that I would need the Lords help. I knew this because if I tried this on my own, I would be using “human intelligence” and not “Godly Wisdom.” In the world we use a human interpretation/standard of goodness that is not the same as the Lords. After giving this some thought, I prayed sincerely to the Lord, and I asked him if he would help me to see my sins. This was a long and sometimes difficult process. First; I needed more understanding of the Word of God, his commandments, laws, and decrees; as well as the teachings of the prophets in the Word of God. It is not possible to understand this by perusing the Word of God once, twice or even three times. Much may be overlooked or misunderstood. Even now, there are times when I can see that I do not see as clearly as I would like to. I have learned that it is best to study the Word of God in the early morning hours and to read straight through from Genesis chapter one to the final chapter of Revelation. I tried to discipline myself to read at least five chapters a day or at least spend 20 to 30 minutes studying every day, and at other times I would get so carried away that I did not want to stop reading at all. Sometimes, when I had free time, I would veer off and go back to study a favorite book. But I always returned to where I most recently was studying and kept studying in this manner. I have also learned that the Lord will meet you “passion for passion.” The more time that you invest in him, his Word, and understanding; the more the Lord wants to help you. If you take the Word of God lightly, he will only show himself slightly in your life; however, if you make a commitment to seek him out seriously, the Lord will make the same commitment to you. When the Lord takes the time to help me see something, I try to be courteous and thank him. Sometimes I may not understand something and the Lord will lead me to another person, another book, or a place to help me. Sometimes this does not happen immediately and it may take time. Sometimes, it takes a long time. The more that you study, the more that you will understand; the easier that it becomes to see and change.
The most difficult part of repentance is changing your attitude. I have to be honest and tell you that there were times when the Lord showed me something that he did not like about me and I literally felt my heart become hard. In the beginning, I was so insensitive that I did not realize this. As I became more sensitive to the Lord, I also started becoming more sensitive to my spirit and tried to control my behavior. As more time passed, I behaved better, and most of the time I was willing to be more submissive to the Lord.
It is a harsh reality when you learn that everything you have learned is wrong. At times, during the course of repentance, it can be quite frustrating. There were times when I felt like I was going through a gauntlet of discipline and it wore me out. There were times when I stopped reading the Word of God and tried to distance myself from the Lord. One time, after this happened, I returned to my studies and the Lord said, “I am glad that you are back, I have missed you.” I also learned that when the Lord showed me something that I had a hard time of accepting and especially if I became angry; the Lord would step back and become quiet and give me time to think about what happened and “get over myself.” During that time, he would take the time, from time to time, to try and reason with me and then I would come back around and so would he. Then we would resume our relationship and it seemed to become closer and stronger.
No matter what happens, please do not give up, but keep trying to study and to meditate. Try with all of your heart to develop a deep and personal relationship with the Lord.