LDS Freedom Forum

Not just asking for forgiveness, but altogether turned from the sin. Right before my Mission I stopped some immoral things I was doing. But besides that I cannot recall the last time I did something wrong and then never did it again. I'm not a bad person and would consider myself on the covenant path. But this is truly concerning. I am going to take what the Prophet asked us to do and truly repent and not do it anymore.

Last night.

I’ve been trying to stop using profanity since I was a kid. I never use it at home around my wife and children. At my work, I work around and communicate a lot, all day long with blue collar men and they use a lot of profanity. Mostly, I do pretty good and avoid the use of excessive profanity but I let a few words slip each day. I think you have motivated me to try to truly repent.

I thought that the point President Nelson beautifully made is any degree of self-improvement - even BREATHING more properly! - is a form of repentance. Not all repentance, not even most, is an occasion for sackcloth and ashes. It can be an overall joyful experience as you feel yourself coming more in alignment with the life that Heavenly Father wants you to live, and you feel greater understanding and more ability to fulfil your life's mission.


To answer your question, this morning I had morning prayer which I have not done for a long time. I didn't beat myself up over neglecting it in the past, but I did repent, in a very small but significant way, simply by praying.

Frequently. It is important to acknowledge that I know, that They know, that I screwed up. Yet again! And as I am sitting here typing this, I am quite sure that I don't do it enough. I very often ask for understanding in my prayers, because I get that in my day to day work to a wider awareness, I oft just don't get it and it's keeping me from the next step - tiny or otherwise. And it is common for me on the next day to have a different understanding of things. It's a fun ride!

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 8th, 2019, 5:54 pm Not just asking for forgiveness, but altogether turned from the sin. Right before my Mission I stopped some immoral things I was doing. But besides that I cannot recall the last time I did something wrong and then never did it again. I'm not a bad person and would consider myself on the covenant path. But this is truly concerning. I am going to take what the Prophet asked us to do and truly repent and not do it anymore.

President Nelson’s talk in Priesthood was great. Honestly because of how fallen we are, it’s too hard to just point out individual times of sin and repentance. It’s easier to look at periods of my life.
I’ve had periods of my life where I have done what President Nelson talks about, daily repentance , the small things. Apologizing to God for getting angry in the car, for getting frustrating with my wife, for lustful thoughts , all within of seconds of the act or thought. This process , combined with daily prayer , over the course of a long period of time always results in a more spirit filled life.

Unfortunate , life is a roller coaster and I’ve had more periods of my life where I don’t do that and it’s a battle to get back to my “previous state”

Every morning, every day, and every night.

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 8th, 2019, 5:54 pm Not just asking for forgiveness, but altogether turned from the sin. Right before my Mission I stopped some immoral things I was doing. But besides that I cannot recall the last time I did something wrong and then never did it again. I'm not a bad person and would consider myself on the covenant path. But this is truly concerning. I am going to take what the Prophet asked us to do and truly repent and not do it anymore.

I want to point out that we will never be perfect, so as much as you want to say you’ll never do it again, you might, you probably will.

What God wants from us is the mighty change of heart. Once you are changed , Born of God, you will abhor sin, which causes you to repent quickly , you’ll do anything not to grieve the Spirit. You will still make mistakes, but the difference is your heart and your desires, it’s that that God will judge you by.

Seek this, you’ll be golden

Like President Nelson said and OI repeated, any improvements we make are a form of repentance, and since I came to that understanding a few years back, I have tried to repent each day.

As far as the bigger things go that we need to repent of, I was inspired several months ago that I absolutely needed to do something (totally unrelated to keeping the commandments, covenants, or anything else members are normally asked to do--totally outside church and family) and I absolutely did not want to do it. I prayed and prayed not to do it--really, wasn't it all in my head and could I please not have to do this. It was going to take a boatload of time--a few hours each day. But the permission to not do it never came. It was something I HAD to do.

So I did it, and did it well, but grumbling all the while, because it was a daily commitment of at least two hours each day. And so as part of my grumbling, I complained, "And I'm not even getting paid for this."

And the reply was so crystal clear. "Oh, yes, you are!" And there was more said than that, but you get the picture. And so I repented, a true 180 degrees, and now this is something I do cheerfully each day, even as I have had to give up another "good thing" (like Pres. Oaks' "good, better, best") that I truly love and that my family truly values. I'm not just cheerful, but excited and truly grateful. So I'd call that repenting.

PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com

While asking for forgiveness and being better each day is very important that is not repentance. Repentance is all together turning from the behavior and never doing it again. I cannot think of a single behavior since my Mission that I have totally changed. I am going to work on that right now with being honest.

Trying to give up negative thinking, feelings not in alignment of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is something to constantly work on, we won't be able to put on airs in heaven, we won't be able to pretend to be kind if we are feeling cranky. You have to be good not just act good.

For me, I work to believe in the power of love, forgiveness, and a sound mind. It seems more and more society is becoming obsessive compulsive concerning anything that could or does go wrong, as opposed to accepting it, grieving and forgiving, and letting it go by trusting in God. The tendency to blame, sue, hold accountable, and pre-punish someone who might do something wrong is causing a sort of mass insanity amongst our culture among some.

It definitely feels like a split between those who are governed by fear and those who endure the crosses of this world with faith that better things will come.

I am constantly working to be on the side of faith and trust in God, knowing that all the stumbling blocks are God's way of being stepping stones for me to help me overcome and be made white.

The other thing I am currently repenting of is my time on the internet. I deleted my facebook account. That was a huge time waster. I was addicted to it. I have literally had withdrawals from not being on it. It is really sad. Repenting is hard!

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 8:38 am The other thing I am currently repenting of is my time on the internet. I deleted my facebook account. That was a huge time waster. I was addicted to it. I have literally had withdrawals from not being on it. It is really sad. Repenting is hard!

This forum helped me get off Facebook. Like a nicotine patch...

This was my conference prayer answer. I'm miserable and angry at God not because of suffering and loss, but because i never truly repent. I may stop behaviors and continue with my half hearted prayers, but if I don't confess my sins and ask for a change of heart while pouring my soul into my prayers, it's not true repentance. I've only been doing half the work. I hate admitting failure that much.

Yahtzee wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 10:37 am

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 8:38 am The other thing I am currently repenting of is my time on the internet. I deleted my facebook account. That was a huge time waster. I was addicted to it. I have literally had withdrawals from not being on it. It is really sad. Repenting is hard!

This forum helped me get off Facebook. Like a nicotine patch...

This was my conference prayer answer. I'm miserable and angry at God not because of suffering and loss, but because i never truly repent. I may stop behaviors and continue with my half hearted prayers, but if I don't confess my sins and ask for a change of heart while pouring my soul into my prayers, it's not true repentance. I've only been doing half the work. I hate admitting failure that much.

I have been having similar thoughts as well. I feel like I am in the gall of bitterness right now. But I have to do this.

About a week and a half ago. I was less than Christlike with my sister’s boyfriend. He’s rubbish, and while I feel perfectly upright for protecting my sister, I took it too far and lost the proper spirit. I need to do better at loving others as myself, using self-control and nurturing family relationships as I properly should.

Yahtzee wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 10:37 am

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 8:38 am The other thing I am currently repenting of is my time on the internet. I deleted my facebook account. That was a huge time waster. I was addicted to it. I have literally had withdrawals from not being on it. It is really sad. Repenting is hard!

This forum helped me get off Facebook. Like a nicotine patch...

This was my conference prayer answer. I'm miserable and angry at God not because of suffering and loss, but because i never truly repent. I may stop behaviors and continue with my half hearted prayers, but if I don't confess my sins and ask for a change of heart while pouring my soul into my prayers, it's not true repentance. I've only been doing half the work. I hate admitting failure that much.

I don't want to come off as preachy, I certainly have my own issues. I just wanted to share one more thing.

It's been my experience that normally it's like that. Try as hard as I might, prayers feel half hearted. Eventually, if you think about God throughout the day every day and ask forgiveness for the small things and thank him for as much as you can throughout the day, eventually the Spirit will cause you to pray. One day you will begin to have an overwhelming sense that you need to pray NOW, and the moment you kneel down in your closet/bathroom/living room/wherever, you feel the Spirit begin to fill you and the Spirit will help you confess, and it's at that moment that your confession truly means something to God, and you feel true godly sorrow.
This gives you some encouragement, and if you continue this will happen again and again, your daily prayers feel a little better and the end of that path will inevitably lead to something good.

This is risky, because it is very personal. I approached the Oct 18 general conference with the desire to understand repentance better. This is what I came away with. I apologize if it seems self serving in any way. I offer it with the thought it may serve someone else in a positive way:
"To repent is to accept that Jesus Christ is your Savior. It is to accept that we are fallen creatures, subject to sin and weakness. It is to accept that we need Him. It is to accept that he did what He said He did, and will do what He said He would do. He suffered these things for all. It is to accept His commandments and covenant path are the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is to proclaim a willingness to submit your will to His will. It is a desire to serve Him and His cause for the rest of your life. It is to embrace the need to strive to corral your desires, and take up His will. It is to trust Him. It is to realize that everything that comes into your life can “work for good.” It is to know that He has a plan. It is to accept that plan and to strive to do our small part in bringing it to pass. It is to support and lift others to the best of our ability to be the best they can be. It is to forgive others, knowing they are at least as imperfect as we are, and that He loves them too, and has already paid the price for their sins and mistakes, and has taken upon himself any pain that they cause through those actions. It is to take up the Holy Spirit as your guide. It is to strive for the welfare of others as you would strive for your own welfare. It is to strive to be one with the Saints in serving Him. This is what it means to repent. So, when we are commanded to cry repentance and nothing else, this is what it is asking us to do… be born again as His sons and daughters.
To repent means you have given away your desires of the world to Him, and supplanted those desires with the yearning to do his will.
The desire to have what you want is traded straight across for the desire to be what He wants.
Repentance means we willingly, with full purpose of heart, change our mind, our heart and our desires to crave the presence of his spirit more than we crave the comforts of the world.
We purposefully walk away from the things that make our body purr, toward the things that fill our souls with peace.
Repentance is to come unto him with a full purpose of heart… the desire to make our hearts one with His. To glorify the Father, and the Son, by seeking, hearing and doing His will."

abijah wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 11:37 am About a week and a half ago. I was less than Christlike with my sister’s boyfriend. He’s rubbish, and while I feel perfectly upright for protecting my sister, I took it too far and lost the proper spirit. I need to do better at loving others as myself, using self-control and nurturing family relationships as I properly should.

I hope you gave him a sound thrashing... good for him...

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 8th, 2019, 5:54 pm Not just asking for forgiveness, but altogether turned from the sin. Right before my Mission I stopped some immoral things I was doing. But besides that I cannot recall the last time I did something wrong and then never did it again. I'm not a bad person and would consider myself on the covenant path. But this is truly concerning. I am going to take what the Prophet asked us to do and truly repent and not do it anymore.

The last time there was a legit revelation

I'm listening to President Nelson's priesthood talk right now. He says repentance is not an event but a process.

setyourselffree wrote: ↑April 9th, 2019, 8:38 am The other thing I am currently repenting of is my time on the internet. I deleted my facebook account. That was a huge time waster. I was addicted to it. I have literally had withdrawals from not being on it. It is really sad. Repenting is hard!

I did that about a year ago. It was hard at first but I don't miss it at all now.

Original_Intent wrote: ↑April 8th, 2019, 6:09 pm I thought that the point President Nelson beautifully made is any degree of self-improvement - even BREATHING more properly! - is a form of repentance. Not all repentance, not even most, is an occasion for sackcloth and ashes. It can be an overall joyful experience as you feel yourself coming more in alignment with the life that Heavenly Father wants you to live, and you feel greater understanding and more ability to fulfil your life's mission.


To answer your question, this morning I had morning prayer which I have not done for a long time. I didn't beat myself up over neglecting it in the past, but I did repent, in a very small but significant way, simply by praying.

This has largely been my experience for the past few years. Repentance seems to be a meta-process. That is, repenting itself is something that must be repented of-revisited and improved constantly, but not always regularly due to differing concerns and focuses at different points in life.

It also depends on the thing. Some things I think about and genuinely regret and have removed from my life and conduct, some things I know are wrong and am working on, and some things fall into "It's probably wrong, but I'm not sorry or I'm going to keep doing it because I have ______ excuse that I know wouldn't hold up if asked by an angel, but I know I'm going to go ahead with it anyway."