Go Fish!
When we think of repenting, we tend to think that we are living in sin and must turn from our wicked ways. Repenting can absolutely be this scenario. There comes a place in our walk with God that Him asking us to repent isn’t Him asking us to turn away from our sin, but to change how we are thinking in expectancy of seeing His Kingdom come. When Jesus told them in Matthew 4 to repent because the kingdom of Heaven was near, he wasn’t telling them to walk out of some sin they were committing. He was telling them to change the way they were thinking because the things of Heaven were in their reach at that very moment. He was telling them to go fishing for the lost! He is telling us the same. Just as you need a flasher to catch fish in certain water, we need to do some flashing, something different, to “catch” the souls God has designed for us to impact. Each and every one of us has been given a gift or gifts that God has anointed in order for us to go out “catch” others with. We must find this gift and begin to use it. Once you have something prepared to catch the fish’s attention, you’ll need to find the fish. As Christians we tend to stay at the surface, intimidated to go into the depths for the darkest and most lost souls. The Holy Spirit acts like our fish finder and is calling us to go DEEP just as Jesus went deep to reach the lost. Can that be intimidating? Sure! That’s why it’s vital to live so filled that you won’t compromise, but you are able to reach down to the very bottom like a down rigger to bring others out. In all this, listening to our master is crucial. Would it be easy to stay within our four walls and enjoy the presence of God? YES! Yet, that is not where God is asking us to be. He’s asking us to repent of what we originally thought was fishing for men and embrace that He’s calling us out of our comfort zone of the church into the very community He placed us in to reach the absolutely lost souls that are in need of our savior. If you aren’t catching fish, why are you here? Grab your flasher, your fish finder and down rigger and go out to catch those whom God is waiting for. Go fishing with expectation!
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17