Heavenly Father gives us the chance to Repent

Today, Melanie G. taught a beautiful lesson on repentance.  Here are a few thoughts from her lesson:

·         Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave us the opportunity to repent.  We have the “privilege” to repent.

·         Repentance has existed from the time of Adam.  The Lord instructed Adam, “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence” (Moses 6:57).

·         There are seven steps to repentance:

1.      We must recognize our sins.

2.      We must feel sorrow for our sins.

3.      We must forsake our sins.

4.      We must confess our sins.

5.      We must make restitution.

6.      We must forgive others.

7.      We must keep the commandments of God.

·         True repentance is a true change of heart.  It doesn’t mean that we won’t ever mess up again, it just means that we don’t want to. 

·         Repentance is hard, but things that are hard are worth it.

·         We read about the repentance of Alma the younger in Alma, chapter 36, verses 12-14 & 17-21.

o   “But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.  Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.  Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.”

o    “And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.   Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.”

By Emily W.