I heard a person once say that confession is informing God of your sins, while repentance is God revealing your sins to you. I will elaborate on this distinction later in the chapter.
Consider yourself as a believer, residing in a house with a large pipe connected to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through this pipe, a continuous flow of blessings enters your life – healthy relationships, physical well-being, financial freedom, fulfilling careers, and the gifts and fruits of the Spirit. As long as this conduit remains open, your life reflects these blessings.
Now, imagine a relentless and vengeful thief outside your house, determined to steal, destroy, and kill all that you possess. Your house has doors, which you are forbidden to open. Every time a door opens, the enemy seizes the opportunity to enter, stealing, killing, or destroying at will. John 10:10 highlights this danger.
This house symbolizes our lives, the pipe represents our connection to God, and the doors signify sin.
God desires provision for His children and recognizes that any form of lack is oppression. He does not wish for us to be oppressed. Thus, from God’s perspective, this pipe should remain open. However, we can obstruct this flow from our end, preventing us from receiving our Father’s blessings.
In life, we often trivialize certain sins, deeming some more significant than others. Yet, sin is sin, for sin is a door. While some doors may have larger openings, even a small, persistently open door can unleash considerable evil. Every act of sin opens a door, whether large or small. Satan exploits these openings to access our lives, entering sometimes unnoticed, gradually stealing, killing, and ultimately devastating.
Satan attacks our families, health, finances, dreams, talents, time, relationships, strength, and faith, taking everything he can. Eventually, he transitions from a visitor to a resident in our lives, growing bold enough to block our pipe. Without this open connection, we seek provision elsewhere, resorting to illicit means, such as stealing from others or engaging in adultery in search of fulfillment or spouses. We become agents of the devil, used to impoverish others whose doors are open, as Satan recruits humanity to execute his bidding.
Returning to the difference between confession and repentance: seeking God illuminates what constitutes sin and what is holy. When you commit a sin, you must approach God and acknowledge that you have opened a door. This act of informing Him is confession. For example, you might say, “Father, I gossiped this morning; please forgive me.” Having completed this first step, you then ask God to reveal the specific door you opened. God then reveals, not to condemn, but to help you grasp the gravity of your actions. He opens your spiritual eyes to understand the level of access your sin has granted the devil and how your actions have been used to harm other of God’s children. Furthermore, if the devil has already stolen from you through that door, God helps you identify what has been taken. Through His Holy Spirit, God allows you to perceive how deeply your actions grieved His Spirit and disregarded His Son’s sacrifice. Overwhelmed by remorse and a profound understanding of the chaos you’ve unleashed, you truly repent, vowing never to open that door again, recognizing that the sin was never worth the cost.
Every sin we commit grants the enemy a legal right to reside in our lives. Therefore, once this is revealed, you must expel the devil from your house. Proverbs 18:21 states, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Our tongue is our weapon for disavowing agreements. We formulate thoughts and then vocalize them. In legal proceedings, we use our tongues to make vows we intend to keep. Our tongues frequently lead us into legal agreements with the enemy.
Consider it this way: God has His law and intentions for our lives, His will. Every time we utter words aligned with God’s law and will, we use our tongues to create life. Conversely, every time we use our tongues to speak words that align with the enemy’s intentions and will, we not only agree with the devil but enter a legal agreement, granting him permission to enter our lives and act as he pleases. The tongue is immensely powerful. James 3:5-6 warns, “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
Proverbs 21:23 advises, “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” The tongue has facilitated numerous agreements. We often limit sin to physical actions, but in reality, what we say can be equally, if not more, evil. We must ask the Father, through the blood of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, to reveal the doors we have opened and the pain we have caused with our words. He will do so lovingly, and we will repent.
Many people mistakenly equate speaking negatively about their situations with humility. For example, saying, “This is too expensive, I can’t afford it,” is often perceived as humble. However, such statements can inadvertently align us with financial scarcity. Instead, a more empowering and faith-filled approach would be to say, “I know it looks expensive, but I can afford it because God is my provider.” There’s no need to declare lack under the guise of humility.
The good news is that just as the tongue can lead us into trouble, it can also lead us out. If we can enter agreements with the enemy, we can exit them using the same tongue. The enemy wishes for us to remain captive. When he enters our lives and oppresses us, he wants us to continue complaining, as this deepens the agreement. We confess our oppression to others with our tongues, allowing ourselves to remain victims. The devil desires your oppression, so when you continually speak of it, you align with his will. However, when you declare, “I know that God is freeing me from this oppression,” you acknowledge the oppression while simultaneously aligning your words with God’s will for your life.
Here’s how I advise you to use your words to break agreements with the enemy and cancel his legal rights over your life. You can declare something similar to this: “I come out of agreement with gossip. I declare I am not a gossiper, and my tongue will no longer be used by the enemy to curse, slander my neighbor, or create suffering and chaos in this world. From this moment onwards, my tongue will only utter words that glorify my Father. I come out of agreement with the enemy, I close every door opened by the sin of gossip, and I break and cancel every legal right the enemy had over my life because of this sin, in Jesus’ name I declare, Amen.”
The enemy hears and is compelled to obey when we speak words backed by the blood of Jesus. The above declaration clearly affirms your new position. The devil is petty and seeks loopholes. When we are unambiguous about our intentions, he must comply. James 4:7 instructs us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Let us actively resist the devil. Let us use our tongues to withdraw from agreements we have entered, whether through our words or actions.
When we repent of our sins, close the doors opened by sin, and cancel Satan’s legal rights, we reclaim our house. We can then access our blessings again, as the devil is no longer present to block the pipe. Our prosperity begins, for no one can take away what God gives us. Remember, Satan cannot directly steal what is yours from God; he can only limit your ability to access it.
In case you relapse and end up committing the same sin again or an entirely new sin, resume the repentance process the moment you identify the sin. Do not waste your time in self-pity. Get up, dust yourself and reclaim your house again. Do this as many times as necessary. The longer you walk with the Spirit, the easier it will get, and your relapses will become far and in between.
In conclusion, true repentance involves understanding the gravity of our actions, experiencing appropriate remorse, repenting, and doing everything in our power to avoid relapsing. As human beings, we are prone to slip. Thankfully, we are not expected to achieve this by our own strength; God has given us His Spirit to reside within us, guiding us not only to true repentance but also empowering us to maintain it.
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