Prayer Journal

Thursday, October 10, 2002

"From that time on Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.' " Matthew 4:17

After being baptized by John, Jesus went into the desert to pray, fast and be tempted by the devil. After forty days of subjection to the devil's best effort to seduce Him, Jesus found Himself on a mountain top being attended by angels.

When Jesus descended from the mountain, He heard that John had been imprisoned. To fulfill prophecy concerning Messiah, He then departed to Capernaum to live and prepare for His preaching ministry. (Vs. 12-17)

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, Paul identified the means whereby a person is saved. It starts with godly sorrow for one's sin that, in turn, leads a person to repent, an action that is a prerequisite of salvation.

The message of Jesus is a simple one, similar to that of John the Baptist. In fact, the message of both men can be summed up in one word - "Repent." Repentance means to turn away from sin and turn toward God. The message of Jesus, however, is quite different from the average evangelistic message of today. Today, we regard someone as saved if they have certain spiritual knowledge of God's Word.

• We give someone the steps of salvation, if they will listen;
• We ask them if they believe the message and invite them to profess his or her faith in it;
• If they do, we ask them to confess their sin and ask for God's forgiveness;
• At that point, we lead them to believe they're eternally secure;
• Then, we look for someone else to hear the message.

All these things are necessary for salvation but without repentance, they fall short of what Jesus preached. And unless we disciple those to whom we witness, we may be guilty of preparing people to go to hell, carrying a load of spiritual knowledge with them, having no saving relationship with Jesus.

In some countries, Christians greet each other by asking, "Have you repented?" If someone were to greet you that way today, how would you reply?

Just Thinkin'... WebServant

Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

Copyright © 1998-2002 James R. Green and Prayertower Ministries - All Rights Reserved

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I'll pray today for...
* My spouse
* My children
* Their friends
* My friends
* My employer
* My city
* My country
* Civic leaders
* Schools
* Teachers

* The sick
* The lost
* Those in despair
* The hospitalized
* The grieving
* Widows
* Orphans

* My church
* My pastor
* Church leaders
* Other churches
* Persecuted church
* Missionaries
* Myself