Collegiate Impact

Broken people have nothing to hide.

Keep pressing in.

As you continue to navigate, it can be challenging to “stay out of the way” of what God is doing but not allow the Enemy or the flesh to disrupt the work of the Spirit. Rather than controlling every detail, there are some practical steps that can help keep God’s work on track and even open a meeting to a deeper work of the Spirit. As the meeting progresses, regularly remind people to:

• Bring everything into the light where Jesus can touch it. Satan wants us to keep our sin and struggles in the dark where he can continue holding us in bondage. The last thing he wants is for us to walk in the light.

• Go that last 10%. Partial obedience is still disobedience. Deal with whatever is still blocking the streams of living water, the real issue at the root of grieving the Holy Spirit.

• Be specific. Help people articulate what God is placing on their hearts by asking, “What specifically are you turning from? And what are you turning to?” These questions help steer people toward true, heartfelt repentance and away from “venting” or from vague, meaningless confessions. The Spirit always reveals specifics.

Teach that brokenness is a lifestyle, not an event.

Because of the powerful way God meets people during seasons of His manifest presence, confession of sin, brokenness, repentance, and fresh fillings of the Holy Spirit can be viewed as dramatic events that happen only on rare occasions. However, Scripture teaches that these are to be experienced as a lifestyle.

It’s important to understand that God desires His children to continually live so close to His throne that sin is always seen as repulsive. Therefore, whenever we sin, we will respond to it with a broken and contrite heart (Ps. 51:17) and move right back into a fresh experience with our heavenly Father.

Additionally, leaders must model a lifestyle with the “roof off” before God and the “walls down” before others. Broken people have nothing to hide. More than anything else, this “heart-set” will ignite movements of authentic Christianity wherever we go.

Educate on “big R” and “little r” repentance.

While something deep within the soul changes at the moment of brokenness and public confession, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a person will never commit that sin again.

Someone brokenly repents of anger. Will anger ever surface in the days and years to come? Probably.

If someone repents of lust, will he or she ever experience a lustful feeling again? Probably.

Even so, this doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit was not moving powerfully at the moment of confession. At that instant when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, prompts confession, and brings sin issues into the light where Jesus supplies grace and forgiveness, we are experiencing “big R” Repentance.

However, “big R” Repentance must be followed by “little r” repentances whenever the flesh rears its ugly head. Put another way, the apostle Paul said to make it a practice to take off the old self and put on the new self (Eph. 4:20-24). Following the Spirit’s promptings versus fleshly impulses requires a daily choice, and we shouldn’t be surprised to experience some level of continued temptation.

When we do sin, however, it is important to remember John’s words: “My little children, … [do] not sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1 ESV). Through public confession, true repentance, and renewed freedom through the cross and God’s grace, we move from habitual sin with occasional victory, to habitual righteousness with the possibility of an occasional sin.

Address deceptions that will leave people unchanged.

For example, some people deceive themselves by admitting sin publicly without repenting. This is dangerous because the person will experience disappointment when his or her life is not changed, resulting in a disturbing, lingering disconnect from the life of God.

It’s one thing to admit a personal sin before others, and quite another to humble oneself before a holy God, to turn and forsake that sin. It has been said that confession to other people moves the lips, but repentance before a holy God moves the heart. And God encourages us to do this by explaining that He will not refuse a humble, sincere heart that turns to Him in brokenness (Ps. 51:17).

This is why John explains that believers are to confess their sins (1 John 1:9) AND walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7). When both of these commands are embraced—confess and walk—forgiveness, fellowship, and life change through the power of the Holy Spirit are experienced.
Read More