21 Days 2020 | Day 13 | Sign of the Kingdom - Repentance

Church of the City Guided Prayer

SCRIPTURE
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Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Rom. 2:4
DEVOTIONAL
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Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. (Matt 3:2) Repentance is part of preparing and widening the road for the Kingdom of God to come. We see in Romans 2:4 that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. Through His kindness, through His grace towards us, we have the opportunity to reject what we want for ourselves that is far less than what God wants for us. We have the chance to repent. To turn. To grab hold of His higher ways.
God wants to bring us into wholeness. He wants to bring us back into the reality of what we were created for and of who we were created to be - His children who are also named as kings and priests. God’s beauty is so far superior to anything that this world has to offer that when we glimpse His beauty, His holiness, the superior wisdom and outpouring of His ways - the natural response is to repent.
Part of repentance is painful. It requires ownership of our actions. There is grief in repentance. We sadden God with our harmful choices. We sabotage experiences and gain real consequences when we sin. We deeply wound others and ourselves when we are not walking in the light. The whole world is groaning under the weight of man’s sin.
But as children of God, repentance is not intended to be frightening. As God’s beloved, we are not coming before a harsh judge. We are coming before a loving father… who has been waiting and watching all along to take our destructive and distracted choices and replace them with a more life-giving way.
As a son and daughter, we are given access to the throne where we may repent of our sins. As kings and priests, we stand in the gap for others. In taking our place for others, we bring the Kingdom Of God nearer to them.
REFLECTION
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David said, One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Ps 27:4) David was able to let go of so many things because he was focused on the beauty and the holiness of God.
What might change in you, in your relationships, and in your daily choices if you caught a greater glimpse of the beauty of the Lord? What if our city caught a revelation of the magnitude of God’s beauty? What might change? What do you want to repent of?
Where do you want to stand in the gap for your city?
PRAYER
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God, show me your beauty and your holiness that I might have revelation as to where I am choosing so much less than what you have for me and where I am grieving you with my choices. Ever draw my heart into repentance with your kindness. And let me bring your kingdom to earth by showing your beauty to those around me, that they might be drawn to your kindness and turn to you as well.