Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

To repent means to rethink, reconsider, and mostly known as changing the way one thinks. Unfortunately, for the longest time, many believers have seen repentance to be a thing of action or work first. So when someone says they have repented, we see it to mean they used to do something bad but now have stopped. No, we first change our thinking, then the outside works would automatically conform to what has happened internally. If the change is not first in the mind, whatever you do on the outside won’t last. It would just be a matter of time before the real you would show. Look at Revelations 2:5; Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Repent and do is the key phrase here. If repenting were the same as doing, it would have been ‘Repent or do’.

Even though what we do reflects whether or not we’ve repented, that alone can’t be repentance in its fullness.

From the opening scripture, Jesus was telling the people to repent and why should they repent? – the Kingdom of God is at hand. The moment man fell, he entered the kingdom of darkness but Christ came to translate us from that kingdom to another. Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. But to move from one kingdom to another requires a change in our way of thinking. Otherwise, carrying the same way of thinking to the new Kingdom would make us unproductive because the previous way of thinking doesn’t apply here.

We are in a battle and this battle is primarily in the mind. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It can be likened to 2 Cor 10:4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Ephesians says wrestle while Corinthians says a fight. A stronghold is a place where a particular belief is strongly upheld. So the strongholds we are to demolish are simply ways of thinking that eventually give rise to a way of life. See what verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 10 says; Take note of the emboldened words: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Imagination, knowledge, and thoughts are all in the realm of the mind, so what we are really fighting against is the mind. Even if you think it’s witches and evil spirits fighting you, know that the devil only prevails against you when you are ignorant. Hence, what you don’t know is the very thing the enemy uses against you. 2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. The only thing the devil can use against us is what is in our minds – the level of our knowledge. If it’s wrong knowledge or knowledge not put to use, he has an advantage. Read the amplified classic and message translations of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 and you’d see another exposition there.

One of the most difficult things to do is to change the mind of another person. Have you ever argued with someone and presented your views while thinking this should be simple enough to understand and yet they were not getting your view? At that point, arguing would make no impact unless they first think like you or get into your mind. The way we view life is a combination of different things like our experiences, upbringing, what information we expose ourselves to, etc. So to you, this should be simple but to another, it’s different because both views or perspectives are different. That’s why a person moving from darkness to light is still the greatest miracle there is. It takes the supernatural for a person to acknowledge God in their lives, especially a God they haven’t seen physically.

Repentance must first be in the mind before change can be permanent. In other words, change inside and the outside won’t be a problem. No wonder Romans 12:2 speaks about not conforming to the world but being transformed -not by our actions- but by the renewing of the mind. Then what happens after that? We are able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. This principle holds for any attitude we have been trying to change for a long time and still not working. Many people make resolutions each year about what they want to achieve but you can never achieve any goal by just deciding to do it. How many things did we say we’d do and still haven’t done? A lot.

For instance, if my goal is to work on my spending habits, my focus shouldn’t be on not spending. I must understand first what the reason for my spending unnecessarily is. It could be pressure from friends, boredom that leads to buying things I don’t need, etc. At this point, my mind is engaged in gaining knowledge of financial habits. The truth is if I don’t know why I’m struggling with a habit and accept that I’m wrong, change can never happen. You don’t repent by looking at the bad habit but rather by changing your view. People say they tried to stop doing certain things and failed at them. The problem is with ‘trying‘ to stop. Focus on changing the way you think about that attitude and very soon you would even be disgusted by that very thing.

Repentance must first be internal, then external for it to last.

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