We’ve been discussing ‘Repentance From Dead Works.’ This blog is based on the first topic from our Hebrews 6 list of the ‘Starting With The Basics Of Christian Faith’ series. Wednesdays In The Word Of God is a Grace Covenant Church Bible Study hosted every Wednesday evening at the GCC parsonage and online at http://gracecovenantonline.org Let’s dive back in!

You know we each should have a specific season, time or even day that we can point to and say check marks the spot. This is when I was born-again. This is the season or month, I confessed and believed to receive Jesus into my heart. If you do, then great, be confident that God is faithful. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book Of Life. Jesus said we should rejoice that our name is written in the Lamb’s Book Of Life. You are blessed, saved and will inherit Eternal Life, escape the Devil’s Hell and destined to go to the place Jesus prepared for us, Heaven.

If not, then pray right now according to Romans 10:9 and 10. Say, Father I repent of my sins. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and raised to life for my sins. I believe and receive him as my Lord and Savior today.

Congratulations! You were just born-again or you just did like I did re-committed your life to Christ.

God Wants You Back…

I shared a part of my testimony earlier of how Father God found me at twenty-seven managing in discount retail on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. A young man operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit said, “Father God says he wants you back. You said you would be back. And he wants you back now! He said to tell you this story and you would recognize it and know what it meant. You read it so many times as a child…” Before he could finish the story, I jumped up and said, “Now you’re scaring me. How could you know that. No one knows this but me and God?”

The story was about the Apostle Paul and his conversion, when he was still breathing threats to the new Christians. Then he was knocked off his horse, blinded for three days. He was gloriously converted to become one of those he had been so furiously persecuting…I was obsessed with that story and read it countless times.

Maybe it was a strange coincidence that he would tell that story. But I knew no one could know the conversation I had with God at thirteen. The church people had been persecuting me. I said I’m too young for this. They’re right I’m too young to teach. I haven’t even lived life yet. So, I’m gonna go and I’ll be back. I’ll be back… I went home that night and began to wonder and try to think about what that would mean to be back with God. I couldn’t get that far with that train of thought before I would cut it off and think, I’ve gone too far…

The next time I saw the young man, he said are you ready? I said yes, I am. I had been so adamant about not hearing anything about the Gospel, he didn’t know what to think when I just said o.k., yes I want to pray right now. It had so disarmed me, our previous conversation that I was quiet and ready to hear these wondrous things, that I had not gone too far. And God knew me, saw me and wanted me back…

Seven Things To Do After Repentance

Before I tell you what happened for me, here are seven practical things to do after repenting from dead works:

1. Seek first the kingdom of God (God’s way of doing things) first and all these things will be added to you, the word of God says in Luke 12:31.

2. Be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. He will make sure you’re growing good fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness and faithfulness to name a few.

When I was growing up, we had fruit trees on our property. We had a beautiful cherry tree that bloomed each Spring. I loved the cherries except when it was a wormy harvest. We pecan trees and plum trees. The reason I mentioned that is because I never saw the trees straining to bear fruit. It’s built into their makeup to do so. And so it is with us, after being born-again it’s what we’ve been designed to do, bear fruit. So, allow the Holy Spirit to produce fruit. Stay connected to the vine (our source) and bear good fruit.

3. Keep the law of Christ. Remember, Christ didn’t come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. All of the Law is summed up into the Law of Christ. Love God with all your heart, soul and body and love your neighbor as yourself. Galatians 6:1,2 says it best.

4. Sow to the spirit. Also, in Galatians 6:6-9 …he who sows to the flesh reaps corruption and death but he who sows to the spirit reaps eternal life and life more abundantly here on earth.

5. Put on Christ. Read Romans 13:11-14 ending with …let us instead clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

6. Grow and Add to your faith. 2 Peter 1:5-8 …make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love…

7. Surrender to God. But never give up. No matter what, keep praying. Keep giving it all to Father God. Surrender to him. It was Jesus that told the story about the judge and the widow to show his disciples and now us that we should always pray and not give up in Luke 18. In short, the judge neither feared God nor cared about what people thought of him. But he said, he eventually gave in to the widow’s persistent demands for justice lest she wear him out coming every day.

Let me close with the end of my testimony of God’s grace to me when I repented of my life of dead works. Fall 1987 was the season I was translated from the kingdom of darkness and my life of sin to the kingdom of light where the children of light live and have their being.

Through the prayer of salvation, the same prayer some of you just prayed earlier in this lesson, I re-committed my life to Jesus. Then the young man said, “Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Receiving this gift, will empower you to live for Jesus. It will give you power to be His witness and become a living testimony.” I said, no, I’ve never even heard of praying to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I prayed to receive the Holy Spirit. The rest is history. That was over thirty years ago, that I made that decision for Christ and received the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Starting the next day, my life has never been the same. I did receive power to be a living witness for Jesus. I became that woman that the Tarot card reader saw. Remember, the one stopping to pray for people every few steps. Father God worked many miracles through my hands and the gift of healing that operates through me. Father God began to teach me about laying on of hands and Mark 6 for those who believe.

One notable miracle was, a woman came to me after hearing I was praying for people and they were receiving miracles of all kinds. She said, my husband has been without a job for a year. It’s affecting our marriage, he’s depressed and I’m grumpy…I stopped her and said simply, Father you know their need. Give this man a good job immediately. Let it become their testimony that they’ll be telling their kids and grandkids in the years to come. To you Father God be the glory. Then I said, tell him to go out again tomorrow and God will lead him. The next week, she came with tears saying her husband got that good job the very next day.

Another lady came on a different day. She also had been hearing about me praying for people. She said, I’m distraught I don’t know what to do. My daughter and I fight so bad. She says she’s leaving and she’ll be gone by the time I get back for lunch. She has a new baby and I don’t want her out in the streets…

Even though she came and was asking, I could see the skepticism on her face. So, I addressed that first. I said it’s obvious in the natural I would not know what to tell you. I’m single and have no children of my own. But let’s agree, we both know a God who knows exactly what to do. The word of God says he’ll give us wisdom when we ask and give it liberally not finding any reason not to give it. She agreed. I took that agreement and ran with it.

So, what do you mean you get in fights something awful? Do you shout at each other and call each other names? She said, no we literally fist fight and roll on the floor… Oh, o.k. let’s pray. I prayed Father give this woman wisdom concerning her daughter how to love her back into relationship. But for right now, I bind up the spirit of rebellion in Jesus name. Pull off the blinders and let her see herself. Give her a spirit of obedience and repentance. The woman said she went home and her daughter was unpacked and sitting on the bed crying and repenting, asking, begging her to let her stay at home. She said it was like something was pulled off her eyes and she saw everything clearly.

To God be all the glory for those miracles!

END OF BLOG

Earma Brown, 12 book Christian Author and Co-Founding Pastor at Grace Covenant Church

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