Today’s New Covenant nugget is from 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish (be rendered ineffective) but that all should come to repentance.
The Amplified Bible says, “The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
If you want the Lord to ‘speed things up,’ when it comes to His promises that have not yet manifested in your life, consider repenting!
A revelation on New Covenant repentance is powerful and will lead to many blessings!
The New Covenant Greek word for ‘repentance’ is μετάνοια or, ‘metánoia’, literally meaning ‘to change your thinking’, or ‘to reverse your former decisions’. There are two Old Covenant Hebrew words for repentance, firstly, the Hebrew word, שוּב (shûwb), which means ‘to turn around’, or ‘to change direction’, and then the second Hebrew word, נָחַם pronounced ‘nâcham’, means ‘to be sorry’.
Old Covenant ‘repentance’ was all about feeling remorse, regretting things, and attempting to change direction in your own strength… this led to feelings of condemnation, inadequacy and sin-consciousness… this is what the Law was designed to do in order to emphasize the need for a Savior.
In the New Covenant, repentance is not about ‘feeling bad’, ‘feeling condemned’, or about the believer attempting to change themselves in their own strength… New Covenant repentance has been made very ‘doable’ and even ‘easy’ through Christ… New Covenant repentance is simply CHANGING your THINKING, changing the way you believe, or ‘renewing your mind’ concerning something. (Romans 12:2)
Now, let’s look at 2 Peter 3:9 again in the light of what I have just shared… “The Lord does not delay as though He is unable, or unwilling to act, and He is not slow about bringing His promises to you into manifestation, as some count slowness, but, INSTEAD, He is extraordinarily patient toward you, not wishing for any person to be ‘rendered ineffective’, or to DO WITHOUT, but for all to CHANGE THEIR THINKING, and to renew their minds, in order to receive His promised blessings, and walk in them.” (2 Peter 3:9 Paraphrased)
Many times, ‘the old way of thinking’, or the old way of making decisions is what is blocking us from going to the next level… I have seen some believers stubbornly hold onto wrong believing, or wrong ‘anti New Covenant’ thinking regarding health, money, stewardship, the church and much more, to their own detriment.
If they would just ‘yield’ to the Holy Spirit and change their thinking, they would RECEIVE.
2 Peter 3:9 says that the Lord is EXTRAORDINARILY PATIENT towards people who believe wrong, think wrongly, or are making bad decisions… He will not give up on you if you are doing without as a result of the way you process things, or the way that you believe, but He will keep exposing you to the truth until you finally REPENT and change your mind and the way that you believe.
The Greek word translated as ‘perish’ means ‘to be rendered ineffective, useless and unable to move forward, leading to destruction and lack’. Our loving Father is NOT WILLING for you to be stuck in that ‘ineffective’ rut that is blocking you from receiving His BEST! If things that you are believing for seem to be continually evading you, ask the Holy Spirit to bring TRUTH to you so that you can REPENT, and then RECEIVE, and BREAK FREE, into what you have been promised, in Jesus Name!
In His amazing love, Nick
