Home » Calling and Election Made Sure » How You Received Your Calling and Election Made Sure » Lost soul is found in Christ (How I was rescued by Christ)
| Technique for Repentance [message #1635 is a reply to message #1634] |
Tue, 18 December 2012 20:33   |
Daryl
Messages: 67
Registered: December 2012
Location: Mesa, AZ
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Technique for Repentance.
No special technique is needed to repent. The Lord accepts all who turn to face him (Helaman 5:36) and call upon his name (D&C 65:4) to change their ways unto him. It really is that simple to repent. Turn and face the Lord, give up your burden (Psalms 55:22) and receive blessings for doing it.
He is most interested in the fruits of our repentance (JST Matthew 3:35). He is most interested when we hear his voice and align our will, our ways, our lives with his. When we attempt to do this, we are repenting. However, we can not repent alone. The Lord is our other part in this process. It is through his grace that our burden is relieved (Moroni 10:32). And he absolutely delights (Psalms 16:3; D&C 76:5) in relieving our burdens from us, thereby glorifying Father (John 14:13). What I am trying to communicate in this writing is how to identify the burden. Then give this burden to the Lord in exchange for blessings. Blessings we need to stay on the path of righteousness and continue communion with him.
Ether 12:27
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
It helped me to let go of preconceived notions about repentance. That way, the power of the Lord could be realized by me. In other words, when I repented before, I was so wrapped up in the pain of repentance, that I did not see the value of the gift of repentance for what it is - a truly wonderful experience. For me now, repentance is a wonderfully, sweet experience of communion with the Lord. Most of God's children are not aware of the numerous blessings that come with repentance. Most people think that the blessings of repentance finish with forgiveness. What I am attempting to share is that there is more!
I have learned that repentance is more about asking the Lord to help us to recover from our sins. Repentance is simply turning to face God with the intent to worship him and none other. That means anything that gets in the way of us truly facing God and to be in his presence, needs to be repented of. Now, my view of repentance is one of eagerness and , "I can't wait to repent." Such has been my conversion to this process of repenting.
When we think of repenting, what is the typical thought of how this is done? Please allow me to paint a bleak picture of how many people repent (my former self included). In this case, we will use a rather straight forward sin: Jon is not keeping the sabbath day holy. First Jon acknowledges that there is a blatant sin. Jon recognizes that he shouldn't go out to eat with his family every Sunday after church services. So Jon decides to humble himself before the Lord and repent for his sin of breaking one of the 10 commandments. When no one else is in the room Jon kneels by his bedside, clasps his hands together and offers up his prayer repenting to Heavenly Father. John knows that he has done the wrong thing and is motivated to ask for forgiveness. In fact he is so motivated, he decides to have a mini garden of Gethsemane right there in his bedroom, even attempts to bleed from some of his pores as a token of his recognition that he is showing the Lord he has sinned. He continues to pray for several hours until Jon hears the voice of Lord say in his mind, "I forgive you." John accepts the Lord's forgiveness, thanks the Lord, promises never to break this commandment again. And he is truly forgiven by the Lord for what he has done. John goes on his way happy that the Lord has forgiven him.
Does this sound familiar? Does it ring a bell with you? Does Jon really look at the big picture as to why he is committing the sin in the first place? Does Jon seek further insight as to why he is doing this sin? What is Jon's motivation for repenting? Does Jon think about asking the Lord to remove this temptation? Does Jon ask to be forgiven for the guilt, shame, burden, delight for the sin, laziness, duration the sin continued before repentance, anger, and many, many more issues associated for the sin. Does he ask forgiveness from those he influenced to sin with him? Why is Jon kneeling? Why is no one else around when Jon asks for forgiveness? Why does Jon feel the need to feel such deep sorrow and even attempt to suffer even as Christ suffered? Why does he clasp his hands when he is praying? Why is Jon so intent on proving to the Lord he is sorry for his sins? Why does he need to here the voice of the Lord to know he is forgiven? When he hears the voice, why doesn't he entreat the Lord with questions? Why isn't he asking for further help, insight, blessings, gifts, visions, reconciliation, etc? Since Jon is in the presence of the Lord, why doesn't Jon ask to have this desire removed from him forever. Why doesn't he ask the Lord to replace those sins and other issues he could repent for with strengths? Why is John satisfied with simply hearing that he is forgiven? When the Lord finally answers that proverbial phone to offer forgiveness and Jon hears the voice of the Lord, why does he simply say thanks and hang up on the Lord? I do not ask these questions to suggest anyone of these are wrong, merely to allow the reader time to consider the scene of Jon repenting and why he does it the way he does it.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is anxious to speak to us. We are friends with him and he desires to converse with us. He wants us to ask him questions. He wants us to be enlightened, not just forgiven. He wants us to gain knowledge, gifts, answers, revelations, visions, etc when we repent and come unto him. It is not just about being forgiven for one particular sin. It is about giving it all, all of the nasty, yucky, down-in-the-dumps awful mire we often find ourselves in spiritually. Give it all to him to forever be gone from our lives. Then he blesses us with the tools, ideas, gifts, visions, knowledge, insight, etc. to give us the fighting chance we deserve to never commit these sins again. By doing this, He literally changes us into his own. Then the Spirit can have effect on our souls for the mighty changes we desire.
Now imagine doing that every single day of your life. You do it for big sins and for little sins, all sins. You do it when you get angry. When you are depressed. When you are lustful. When you covet. When you want to run to Mc Donalds and get a Big Mac after church services. Anytime you are out of perfect alignment with the Lord, you go through the process of righting yourself with the Lord.
Overwhelmed with this prospect? Sound like a lot of work? It is if you do it on your own. There is nothing wrong with asking for help with this. And I mean help right down to, "Repeat after me, I'm sorry Lord... Please forgive me for..." Just how humble are you willing to make yourself?
Here is the technique I use on a daily basis:
Sit in chair and write (or type)
Write all the things bothering me right then (stress, burdens, illness, fatigue, etc. etc.)
Write all the sins bothering me right then
Write all the pain, confusion, errors, mistakes, anything that would cause you to be out of alignment with the Lord
Write down all the blessings you need to replace these issues with.
Ask for evil to be removed from your presence - (cast out the devils influence and all unclean spirits)
Begin prayer while sitting or kneeling in a position so you can write
Say whatever comes to mind, gratitude, don't forget your gratitude
Share with the Lord what the burden is, read from a list if it helps
Tell the Lord how these things afflict and are a burden (not complaining, just humble manner of explaining)
Describe the affliction in as much detail as possible
Offer your problems and ask the Lord to take them from you
Ask the Lord to replace these problems with blessings, strengths, knowledge, Godly attributes, etc. Allow the Lord to benefit your humility and efforts. Again, read from a list if it helps you.
Invite the Lord to be there with you in your life
You have now repented, believe, visualize, comprehend that the Lord has taken your issues, blessed you in spite of them and now desires to be present in your life as your dear friend (because he is!)
Now, invite the Lord to converse with you. Listen to what comes to your mind. Write it down.
Receiving revelation
One time at a college graduation ceremony, Hugh Nibly stood before the graduating class and began his address by saying, "I stand before you today dressed in the false robes of the priesthood." He is right. One very important part of those false robes is the tassel. The tassel is moved from left to right as the students graduate. The tassel is a symbol of the communication between God and man. In a grand exclamation of defiance, Academia has severed that tassel.
For our purposes, the tassel represents two parts of the mind. One part operates to solve logical situations (the lower or temporal part). Like how do I drive from the market to the library. Your logical mind calculates a way to make that happen. When revelation is received, the logical mind is put in secondary mode. The part of the mind that receives revelation is the part that believes in god (celestial part). One needs to tap into that side of the mind for the revelation to flow. The moment the logical side is activated, the revelation is stopped. As you become better at this, you learn how to "toggle" the mind back and forth to receive the words and then to scribe your revelation. It's ok to stop the revelation to write. Some people speak into a microphone and later put it to paper. There have been times I have excused myself to use the restroom or change rooms, etc. I resume right where I left off. This may sound quaint, but it is very real. After you have received revelation several times, you will get the hang of it.
The Lord will reveal many important things to you when you are in revelation. Many things you were not initially inquiring about. Just go with it. The Lord is trying to communicate his will to you. Do not be surprised if your head feels like it is about to explode with all the stuff you get. At first, it is mentally exhausting. You are fresh at exercising this new part of your mind. It is very exciting. The Lord will reveal certain truths to you. You may find the Lord is so very eager to share with you, gifts, visions, revelation and much more. It is a grand experience.
You are on earth time which is linear. That means time is ever pressing forward. The Lord's time is everpresent. That means the Lord is not affected by time like we are. I used to feel guilty taking time away from the Lord while in a vision. I was eager to end the vision because I felt like the Lord had more pressing issues than to spend it with me. I don't know how it works, but he can do everything he needs to and still talk to all his sheep. It's ok to take your time with the Lord. I used to try to be courteous with the Lord and tell him when closing our conversing, "Thank you for your time." Now I chuckle at the thought. Now I just thank him for saving me. The Lord understands that gratitude.
I hope others can share in their experiences with conversing with the Lord through the veil using this or other techniques. Most important, the Lord wants us to communicate with him. He truly wants us to draw near unto him by conversing. Please understand that we all need to repent daily. Allow this wonderful blessing to be part of your everyday life. Allow the Lord to work miracles for you.
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