When you hear preaching declaring that you need to repent, is your first impression of repentance something that involves mourning and sorrow? If we are to repent, it is essential that we know what the word “repent” means in the first place. It is the Greek word metanoeo, which means “to change one’s mind.” Repentance means changing your mind.

This means that even if we do not use the word “repent” all the time on God’s people, every time they sit under anointed preaching of His Word, repentance is still occurring—their minds are being changed about the old beliefs that held them in bondage and receiving the truth that liberates them.

Even as you are reading this, repentance is going on. You are renewing your mind with the good news of Jesus. You are becoming more and more conscious of His finished work and your righteousness in Christ. When you begin to receive the revelation that you are no longer under the old covenant of law, but are now under the new covenant of grace, the Bible calls that repentance!

I want to share a praise report from Dave, who resides in Dallas. His story demonstrates how the truth liberates our minds from old beliefs that keep us in bondage and rob us of joy and victory in our lives:

For a long time, my wife and I believed that though we were saved by grace, it was through our own efforts that we could become the Christians we were called to be. We sat under a ministry that taught you to walk out your Christian life by doing “good works,” so we served in the children’s ministry, led Bible study, performed the Holy Communion, tithed, and worked at vacation Bible schools during the summer months.

We did all this because we were taught that it would “please” God. The sad thing was that the more we tried to “please” God, the less we enjoyed serving Him. Eventually, it became so much like work that we all but stopped doing it and became resigned to living a less-than-fulfilling Christian life.

Then, over a year ago, we came across your television broadcast. We listened hungrily to what you shared and knew that this was the message and revelation that would change us as Christians.

Every night of the next month, my wife would read aloud excerpts from one of your teaching resources, and we would be amazed at the teachings, examples, and revelations in the book (and that would transform our lives). We would discuss them until late at night, marveling at the revelation of God’s grace and love. The power of those revelations in the book began a process still continuing today.

For example, all our thoughts about what would please God were radically changed. No longer were we living under a cloud of condemnation because we didn’t read the Bible long enough, didn’t repent and pray enough, didn’t serve enough, or didn’t give enough to enjoy the blessings of God. Faith and love for the Lord just arose in our hearts when we discovered that it wasn’t about us at all, but about the finished work of Jesus on the cross, that it was His righteousness and His righteousness alone that qualified my wife and me for all the blessings of God.

Joy returned to our lives, and our relationship with each other changed. We no longer condemned each other but loved each other as we experienced God loving us. It changed our relationship with Him and continues to impact our family today as we sit under the ministry of grace.

Moreover, the joy of serving has returned to us as it is now an outflow of what God has poured into us through His grace. We no longer see serving Him as a “work” but an honor and privilege. We are so grateful to Him for leading us as a couple to feed on His love for us through the finished work of Jesus Christ!

Do you see that what you believe about God powerfully impacts your entire life? When you allow the truth of His love and grace to replace wrong beliefs about Him in your mind, you will find joy, fulfillment, and victory, replacing defeat, exhaustion, and bondage in all areas of your life. Keep hearing and feeding on the word of His grace, and like Dave, see Him transform you, your family, and your ministry from glory to glory!

I want you to be aware that as you look to the person of Jesus and cultivate the power of right believing, you’ll experience some battles in your mind that will challenge your beliefs. Be encouraged to know that you don’t have to be afraid of these battles.

Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Based on God’s Word, right believing is the key that unlocks the treasures of God in your life, giving you access to the fullness of His love, grace, favor, blessings, and forgiveness. Jesus has already paid the price on Calvary’s hill. The hindrance then between you and your victory is your wrong beliefs. The battle has to do with your thoughts.

The enemy knows that if he can control your thought life, he can manipulate your emotions and feelings. For instance, if he can make you entertain thoughts of guilt, failure, and defeat, you will begin to feel lousy about yourself, physically weak, and even depressed.

Our emotions are flags that indicate to us what our thoughts are. Thank God for emotions. They tell us if something is wrong with our thoughts. Many of us are not cognizant when our thinking slides down a slippery slope to fear, doubt, pessimism, and anxiety. However, God has designed us so that we can quickly recognize our thinking through our emotions. Try this: whenever you begin to sense negative emotions, such as fear, worry, guilt, and anger, stop and ask yourself, “What am I thinking?”

Your emotions follow quickly at the heels of your thoughts. If your thoughts are negative, you will naturally produce negative emotions. Conversely, if your ideas are positive in Christ, you will have positive feelings.

That is why there is a battle for your mind. The devil wants to keep your thoughts negative to keep you defeated. He is a master of mind games, and he doesn’t play fair.

When he first tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he made them doubt God’s motives by insinuating that God was deliberately withholding something good from them when God was protecting them. The devil’s strategy hasn’t changed—he is still using fears, lies, accusations, guilt, and condemnation to ensnare believers today and make them doubt God’s perfect love, forgiveness, and superabounding grace.

My friend, are there areas you are fearful and anxious about today? Realize that those fears and anxieties indicate the presence of wrong beliefs in your life that God wants you to be freed. Replace those false beliefs with correct beliefs based on God’s Word, and you will eradicate those fears and anxieties. Through the power of right believing, you will win the battle for your mind.

Let me share with you a testimony I believe will significantly encourage you. One of my leaders was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease when he suddenly suffered bouts of intense vertigo that completely incapacitated him for hours. Whenever a vertigo attack occurred, waves of nausea would overtake him, and he would find himself throwing up uncontrollably. He would also occasionally experience tinnitus symptoms, where every sound around him became magnified or distorted, and he could not hear what people were saying to him.

It was terrifying for him because the attacks were sudden and unpredictable, could happen while driving, and left him retching and vomiting until he was exhausted. It felt like he was trapped in the churning waters of a violent storm. His doctors told him that medication could help manage the symptoms, but there was no cure for his condition, and the signs were, in fact, likely to get worse.

Then one day, the Lord led him to the above passage from Isaiah 41. He said, “When God gave me that word, I kept meditating on it and kept it in my spirit. The words ‘shall be as a nonexistent thing’ kept jumping out at me, and I knew I had it. I was healed.”

He did not see the full manifestation of his healing immediately, but he had faith he was already healed because of the word he received. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). So even before he saw the reality, he knew he was healed.

He continued to partake of the Holy Communion regularly, but he no longer did so out of any sense of fear the symptoms would become increasingly debilitating. Instead, he participated knowing he was already healed, and after some time, he “stopped experiencing the symptoms altogether.” He has been entirely symptom-free for over a year as I write this. All glory to our lovely Savior!

Isaiah 41:11–13 is such a powerful passage to meditate on if you are faced with the enemies of sickness and disease today. Doesn’t it remind you of what the Lord did for the children of Israel when He split open the Red Sea for them even though it appeared like all was lost?

The Lord is no respecter of persons. Put your trust in Him. He can make a way when there seems to be no way. If He did it for the children of Israel and the brother in my church, He could do it for you.