Delayed Repentance - The Cost of Waiting
Obviously, Satan does not want you to repent at all. But if he cannot do that, his next scheme is to delay your repentance. He tries to tell us that it will be easier later on. Most often, that's a lie from the pit! The longer things go on, the harder it becomes to repent! I have literally seen lives destroyed by waiting instead of dealing with it right away. Countless people today are still paying the price for mistakes they've made 20 years ago!
Contrary to popular belief, time does not wash away sins... only the blood of Jesus does that! If you have sins in your past, it doesn't matter how long ago it was, if you have not repented of them, then you're still paying the price today!
Let me ask you a question, and I want you to be honest with yourself... What benefit is there in waiting or delaying your repentance? The truth is, there is none! Delaying your repentance rob you of precious time here on earth to be all that you can be for the glory of God. There are people lying in their graves right now because Christian men and women whom the Lord wanted to use in the healing ministry, have instead chosen to delay their repentance. It kept them out of the ministry, and out of God's will... therefore rendering them useless to the body of Christ!
This is so important, I can't stress it enough: You need to make up your mind today whether you're going to repent or not. Are you really going to repent, or not? If not, then go ahead and throw your towel in... but if you've made the choice to repent, then get it over with. As I said before... why wait? All you're doing is robbing yourself of precious time here on earth!
God has given each of us a very special time here on earth, and how we spend that time will determine our position in eternity. Many Christians spend most of their lives beating around the bush, and out of God's will. God can't use them, because their hearts aren't right before Him. They haven't truly repented of their wrongs, and they continue to justify or cover up their pasts. If they would repent of their pasts instead of covering them up, then God could begin to use them in mighty ways. It isn't God's intent for us to walk around helpless, but rather to give us gifts an operations of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:7, it tells us that gifts such as healing or prophecy or discerning of spirits are given unto every member of the body of Christ:
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal."
Think of how many people have died of cancer simply because the body of Christ is so weak and helpless? Is it God's will for cancer (a demonic bondage) to go fourth killing His creation? We pray "Our Father who art in heaven... thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" but do we really mean it? Think of how God could use the body of Christ when it's members are repentant of their pasts and stop trying to justify their wrong actions?
Psalms even tells us that delaying a repentance is actually known to cause your flesh (physical body) to decay:
Psalms 31:10, "For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed."
Psalms 32:3, "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long."
One of my favorite parables on repentance: One time, a young boy and his older sister went to grandma's house for the day. The little girl was old enough to do chores, and grandma was paying her to do things such as wash the dishes, sweep the floors, etc. Grandma had a cute little pet duck whom she loved and cherished. The little boy (we'll call him Steven) was out in the back yard being mean to the duck when he thought nobody saw him. The little girl (we'll call her Jill) saw Steven as he was being mean to the duck, and afterwards ran upto him. She said, "I saw what you did to grandma's ducky... but I won't tell her if you will wash my dishes for me!" So Steven washes all the dishes for her while she's out playing dolls in the back yard. Afterwards, she approaches him and says, "I won't tell grandma if you'll wash the walls for me!" So Steven washes the walls for the next 2 hours while she's outside enjoying the summer day. Afterwards, she approaches him again, and again... and keeps him busy working his tail off just so she will keep quite about his sin. Finally, after the whole day had been wasted, he becomes fed up and runs to grandma... "Grandma!" he says, "I need to tell you something... I was mean to your pet duck." Grandma looks at him, smiles and says, "I know. I was standing at the bathroom window and watched you do it. I was just wondering how long you would let your sister lead you around like she did before you said something!"
The bottom line is, delaying your repentance only robs you of precious time here on earth to do the will of God, and be a blessing to the body of Christ. As long as you are justifying or covering up things in your past, you will never be all that you can be for the glory of God. They will always stand in your way from being used by God in the ultimate way that God has in mind for you. God may be calling you into a healing ministry, but He needs your heart to be right before Him before He pours out the ultimate anointing upon you. Think of how many sick people may be dying over the next 20 years if you aren't able to operate in that anointing!
If that isn't enough, delaying repentance also allows Satan to build strongholds in your mind. The more time he has to do this, the worse the strongholds become. The sooner you break up the devil's plans in your life, the better! Make the choice today to repent, then get it over with. Don't let Satan steal the precious time that God's given you here on earth to fulfill His will in your life!
