Acts 3:19
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,"
Repent means to change your mind and THINK differently! And in the case of the gospel, we should change our minds about the way we live, if we're living contrary to the word of God, change our minds about what we think on a daily basis.
Converted means to bring over from one belief, view, or party to another. So if you believed in Muhammad and the teachings of Islam, you would stop practicing Islam, repent and be converted to Christianity, follow Jesus Christ and practice His teachings.
So if one repents and gets converted to Christ, your sins can and will be blotted out or forgiven so that you can be refreshed by the presence of the Lord.
So let me go back to the beginning and lay a solid foundation for us to understand why we need to repent and why we should repent.
Genes 3:1-13
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. (They covered themselves)
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” and the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
From the first sin, man has been covering themselves, running and hiding from God, our Creator, the life giver, the Healer, the one who blesses us, and saves our soul. Why do we run from God when He loves us so much and only wants the best for us, He wants us to have eternal life, He wants to have a covenant relationship with us, He wants to walk with us in the cool of the day, but we keep running. Running to do things our way, running and resisting, and fighting against God to our own demise.
Adam and Eve HEARD the sound of God walking in the garden and they HID themselves from the presence of the Lord. They knew God, walked with Him before, but after their sin they felt ashamed, afraid, guilty, sorrowful. Adam said he heard the Lords voice in the garden and he was afraid, he hid himself, he wasn't afraid before, but now, after their sin, he became afraid of God.
Fear is the bane of our existence, fear destroys us, hinders us, and keeps us from living the abundant life that Christ purchased for us on the cross.
Men fear the light, even hate the light, because the light exposes the darkness so you can see what's hidden!
John 3:18-21
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Adam and Eve knew that what they had done was wrong, they disobeyed God and their sin caused them to be afraid and hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. I wonder what would have happened if they would have asked God for forgiveness? But instead they started to play the blame game! Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent!
What does God require from us so that times of refreshing may come from His presence? Repentance, confession, conversion, obedience, faith, and endurance until the end.
Will you be refreshed?
In Jesus,
Tyrone
