If you pick up a modern French dictionary — one sanctioned by the Institut de France — the government academy that arbitrates matters concerning the national language — you will find the word repentance defined almost exclusively as a “painful regret” for one’s faults.

For this reason, many French Bible translations will use more words than typical or footnote the text to ensure the fuller biblical meaning of repentance is spelled out.

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Repentance is so much more than simply feeling sorry.

While sorrow can and often is a part of repentance, the act of repenting has more to do with our minds and our choices than with our feelings.

New Testament writers use the Greek word metanoia for repentance. This word literally means “changing one’s mind.” We often use it when we talk about choosing to follow Jesus Christ in the sense that we have changed our mind about how we are going to live and will literally turn around and follow the Lord.

Sometimes, people hear the word repent and conjure up zealous street preachers shouting and waving angry billboards.

But repentance is literally the gift of the “do-over.”

When we are born-again — become a true believer in Jesus Christ, His Life, His Death, His Resurrection and choose to follow Him — the Lord gives us the fullness of salvation. This includes being saved from damnation, of course. But our gift keeps on giving. We are saved from sin in our present life.

The blessed Holy Spirit who takes His residence in the true believer is faithful to the Father by convicting us of sin. We can choose to repent of that sin and appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus to change.

Changed from going off heedlessly into that sin. Changed from being scarred and marked by sin. Changed from habits of sin dug deep in a life.

When I became a believer, I found such hope in the idea — and the reality — of repentance. I could be rid of the sin that stained my life. I might be changed from an embittered, soured person into one whose outlook was positive and life-giving. This was a gift almost as great as the reality that I was no longer heading away from the Lord into a damned eternity, but into a glorious future.

My first years as a believer, I found the Holy Spirit changing me in so many very real, very obvious ways.

I stopped using the profane language that surrounded me.

I had an inexplicable peace that other people noticed.

I stopped drinking socially and spent an afternoon pouring bottles of liquor down the drain. Ironically, that Christmas I received more bottles of wine as gifts than I had ever before. I was not even a little bit tempted.

I felt like I was being made new, just as the Scripture says.

But as is common to almost every new believer, there was a time when my spiritual growth seemed to plateau. My growth spurt seemed over, but I wasn’t anything like what I saw in the biblical Jesus. On top of this disappointment, I was plagued by persistent sin in key areas.

For example, no matter how hard I tried, I found it difficult to manage feelings of jealousy in the workplace. It seemed to me that accolades and rewards (i.e., promotions) were going to everyone else. A sense of not being good enough — a boogyman from my childhood — returned to haunt me.

I cried out to the Lord. He surprised me with the solution: I needed to repent of the belief I hosted in my inmost being of “not being good enough.”

The Lord spoke something important and freeing; I needed to repent— not because I was in active sin — but because I needed to change.

My thoughts were not in line with the Bible.

The belief of “not being good enough” conflicted with the truth that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13) and Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Learning this valuable truth about the gift of repentance has led me to a truth of which I regularly remind counseling clients:

Repentance is how change happens in the Kingdom.

But there are many times my prayers of repentance have not resulted in change. In these cases, the Holy Spirit often has shown me that in my deepest being, I don’t want to change. But staying in sin is not an option for me. So I go more basic with my prayer. I ask the Lord to make me willing to be changed. This is usually the longest part of the change process. When my heart softens, I repent and see real change occur.

Not so long ago, the Lord softened my heart with a jolting picture of uncurtailed sin.

A while ago, I’d been working with some people on a difficult, gnarly situation. During this time, I lashed out against these people verbally (venting to my husband) or in the meditations of my angry heart.

I knew, of course, this was a sinful complaining or even cursing. The Bible is rife with warnings about such out-of-control utterances. But I fell again and again into this temptation.

In my heart I felt wronged. I felt I had a right to vent my frustration. But instead of reading and praying through one of the psalms that gives expression to these feelings, I used my own unsanctioned, unholy words.

The conviction of sin grew until I had a powerful and frightening dream.

In this dream, one of the people about whom I had the most angry words and thoughts was in severe physical pain and began to vomit up a black, tarry substance.

I woke horrified and realized the Lord was showing me the ultimate impact of the words I was speaking. My self-righteousness could choke this person — literally.

I repented, but the habit of vicious words and thoughts in this situation had taken root. I needed a strong tool with which to walk out the repentance. I turned to the hammer of God’s Word (Jeremiah 23:29).

I had at hand a wonderful IFA prayer guide titled “Prayers To Set A Guard Over Your Mouth.” This two-page guide is a list of Scriptures I prayed every day for most of a year. Eventually, these words became a part of my inner being, reshaping my inner geography — knocking down my sense of entitlement and crushing my self-righteous anger.

I can’t say I’m not subject to the sin of evil words and thoughts in this situation, which drags on to this day. And I can’t say I don’t sin in like manner when I look at world and national news.

But I can say that speaking viciously is not the habit it used to be. And I’m so very grateful because without the gift of repentance, all I would have been able to do was have ‘painful regret’ about my habitual sin.

Now I at least have a hope of victory over this sin.

Lord, thank You for the gift of repentance — a gift Your Son Jesus Christ died on the Cross to secure for us. Thank you for the hope of walking in increasing holiness we have because we are encouraged to repent and be changed. Thank You we have the hope of ditching the patterns of sin and adopting the holy highway of Your Word in our lives. Thank You we can be transformed into the image of Christ.

Share Your Prayer Below.

New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor and a contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for about 20 major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. www.Richdrama.com. Photo credit: Viktor Hladchenko/Getty Images.