Reign Down USA

Talk about a marketing challenge! The theme of the event was basically “come and repent”. That is pretty hard to sell here in America.

There were two places in the northeast Twin Cities showing the simulcast for Reign Down USA. We went to North Heights. I was somewhat surprised nearly 500 people showed up. We broke away from the national show for a while to do our own local thing. I wasn’t sure I agreed with that at the time. But after seeing the full event later on God.TV, it was a good choice.

The main event had star power and was more of a concert than we expected. Locally we went deeper with more prayer time regarding a variety of topics. It was good.

Repentance is basically turning around and going in the opposite direction. It is a change of course.

People don’t like the word “repent” very much. It is difficult for our pride. Some claim that repentance was mostly an Old Testament thing. But Jesus clearly stated that repentance is associated with the “good news” of the gospel. See Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, 6:12, Luke 13, Acts 11:18, 17:30, 20:21, 26:20, 2 Peter 3:9, and other places.

Even though it is hard, repentance is often the key to moving to something better. We have to be willing to leave something behind to grab hold of the new thing. Most often that letting go includes attitudes and actions. But it can also include letting go of relationships, possessions, hobbies, jobs, and even ministries that do not match God’s plans for us.

Quite often we have actions that are simply wrong. They are not good for us. They do not bring honor to God, others, or even ourselves. We need to stop those and start doing what is right.

Other times we are called to let go of mediocre or even good things to pursue something better. That can be a difficult challenge as well.

Repentance is a gift. It is the start of something good.

Most of us would like to see some changes. Are we willing to change behavior so that the changes become reality? If it is what God wants, he will gladly help us do that.