It’s Time for Repenters to Repent
The Pathway to Revival
By Byron Paulus
I had just left a promising business career to join the staff of Life Action Ministries, a band of brothers and sisters committed to seeking a move of God in revival. We were in our first week of staff training when one of the speakers challenged us to examine our hearts to see if we really had a spirit of repentance.
I remember his definition of repentance as the heart attitude that says to God, “Everything I now know to be sin, and everything that You show me in the future to be sin, I am willing to give it all up for Your sake.”
I had grown up in a Christian home, made a profession of faith as a child, graduated from a Christian university, and was active in leadership in my church. But deep in my heart, I knew I had never been born again. For years, I tried to escape the Spirit’s conviction over my lost condition.
Now, I was faced with the real issue in my life. I had never been willing to repent of going my own way, and to let God have the reins in my life. I had wanted to run my own life.
For the next 24 hours, the heavy hand of God’s conviction weighed down upon my heart. I simply could not escape the realization of my desperate need for repentance. Finally, knowing I had no other hope, I slipped out of a service and stepped outside. Under a tree at our camp, I repented and met God on His terms.
Genuine Repentance
That night was the beginning of a new life for me. I embarked on a whole new walk of ongoing repentance, marked by unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Christ in my life.
Oswald Chambers has called repentance “the bedrock of Christianity.” I believe the failure of the Church to understand and embrace the biblical concept of repentance has robbed us of the glory of God in our midst. The revival for which we are believing God to grant us must be birthed in genuine repentance.
Chambers was not alone in his belief that repentance is central to Christianity. General William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army, listed six chief dangers that would confront the church and culture as the 20th century was on the horizon:
- Religion without the Holy Spirit
- Christianity without Christ
- Forgiveness without repentance
- Salvation without regeneration
- Politics without God
- Heaven without hell.
And further, one of the most respected 20th century preachers, A.W. Tozer, declared, “The curse of the 20th century is that because we know something, we think we have something.”
Not much has changed now that we are well into the 21st century. We live in a generation that knows about repentance. But, like my story, many professing Christians have not experienced it—and are actually lost.
I know. I was one of them.
Greatest Deterrent to Revival
What about those who experienced repentance at conversion? Many think it is a one-time experience and do not understand the forgiveness, freedom, joy, and power that come from living a lifestyle of repentance.
To some reading this article, it may seem simplistic to say, “Repentance is for believers, not just unbelievers.” But knowing it and experiencing it are not synonymous. When was the last time you genuinely repented of your sin? Not just asked forgiveness but consciously repented? Or at least recognized the necessity of a heart attitude of repentance?
Could it be that the single greatest deterrent to revival in our day is that Christians have stopped repenting?
Some years ago, I heard Josef Tson, then in exile from Romania, relate the events that led up to the revival that swept through his homeland in the 1970s. In Romania, evangelical believers of various denominations are known as “repenters.” This designation is commonly used because of the emphasis placed on repentance at the time of conversion.
At the Second Baptist Church in Oradea, where the revival began, God placed a pastor who challenged his people regarding their need for repentance. For six months, his message was, “It is time for the ‘repenters’ to repent!”
He called them to repent in several specific matters; among them, the fact that many of the believers in that area (known for its wine vineyards) were themselves indulging.
Furthermore, many Christians were involved in the commonly accepted practice of stealing from the lands that the Communists had confiscated from the people. This pastor called for his people to repent of these and other practices, and to enter into a covenant not to be conformed to the world around them.
The “repenters” repented. And when they did, God began to unleash the power of His Spirit in an extraordinary way that has continued to this day. Ultimately, God used the revived Church in Romania to provide the spiritual and moral impetus for the Revolution that released that country from the tyranny of Communist oppression.
And so, as always, repentance gave birth to freedom.
New Cry for Repenters
The starting place for the revival in Romania will also be the starting place for the revival so desperately needed in North America. Over a decade ago, pollster George Gallup, Jr. observed that most Americans who profess Christianity don’t act significantly different from non-Christians in their daily lives. What would a similar survey reveal today?
This indictment only underscores the need for a new cry to be heard throughout the Church of our land: “It is time for the repenters to repent!”
Of course, the call to repentance must be heard by those in our midst whose sin is blatant and known to all. But the first to respond to this message ought to be those of us in positions of spiritual leadership and influence. We are the ones who must lead the way in repentance, brokenness, and humility. Then we must lead those who follow us into a lifestyle of continuous repentance.
That is the pathway of continuous revival.
Consider this eternal reality. When the God of this universe determined to introduce the physical ministry of His Son Jesus here on earth, He chose John the Baptist as the messenger—and repentance as the message. Why? As the psalmist said, “Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps” (Ps. 85:13, nlt).
Should it be any different today? As we seek God for His manifest presence by way of His Spirit in revival, could it be the only reason God has not chosen to descend is because we have not chosen to repent?
The Gift of Repentance
In the deepest parts of my heart, I long for the day when God shows up, when “the earth [is] filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). What an amazing gift that will be!
But should we not view repentance as an amazing gift as well? Is the means to the end not also glorious? Should we not ask God to express His kindness (Rom. 2:4) by giving a spirit of repentance?
God delights in giving repentance, but do I delight in asking Him for it?
As you read this issue on repentance and confession, I appeal to you not to view this material merely as a source of new or fresh information. Rather, allow God to examine your own heart in relation to this matter. Ask Him to personalize these truths to your life, and to enable you to enter into a richer, deeper level of personal repentance.
Then ask God to grant His Church the gift of repentance. A repenting Church will be a revived Church. And only a revived Church can reveal the glory of God to a darkened world.
BYRON PAULUS serves at Life Action Ministries (parent organization of Revive Our Hearts, Life Action, and OneCry). After 30 years as president/CEO, he now focuses on speaking and writing while remaining on the board and senior leadership team.
Declaration of National Spiritual Emergency
An Appeal for Urgent Prayer
With heavy hearts, we recognize that the Church in America is in a state of spiritual emergency. Like the churches warned in Revelation, we have become lukewarm and compromised, and the light of our witness has grown dim.
We confess that despite access to more resources and biblical teaching than any other group of believers in history, we are not characterized by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. And we acknowledge our lack of widespread impact for Christ on our lost and disintegrating culture.
But God is waking us up from our slumber and mobilizing us to pray earnestly for revival. Together, we desire to travel the narrow road of brokenness, humility, and repentance.
In desperation for God, we cry out for the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit in our day. We believe that true revival is the only hope to reverse our spiritual recession and enable us once again to display the beauty of Jesus Christ and His gospel throughout the world.
Because we believe that only Christ can save, heal, and revive, we pledge to:
TURN—in humble repentance from every sin God reveals to us
PRAY—with urgency for spiritual recovery and awakening
UNITE—with other believers in spreading the hope of Christ-centered revival.
Reprinted with permission. To join the OneCry movement, go to onecry.com