Family Home Evening Lesson #19: FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH--REPENTANCE

1. Opening Prayer

2. Sing "Come Unto Jesus" Hymns pg. 117

3. Read D&C 58:42 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.

4. Read and discuss the following from "For the Strength of Youth"

The Savior gave His life for us and suffered for our sins. This great sacrifice is called the Atonement. Through the Atonement, you can receive forgiveness and be cleansed from your sins when you repent. When you do what is necessary to receive forgiveness, you will know for yourself the power of the Atonement and the love God has for you. You will feel the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which will bring you great strength.

Satan wants you to think that you cannot repent, but that is absolutely not true. The Savior has promised you forgiveness if you will do what is required. The sooner you repent, the sooner you will find the blessings that come from forgiveness.

Some people knowingly break God’s commandments, expecting to repent before they go to the temple or serve a mission. Such deliberate sin mocks the Savior’s Atonement and invites Satan to influence your life. Repentance for such behavior is difficult and can take a long time. If you sin in this way, you may lose years of blessings and spiritual guidance. You may become trapped in the sinful behavior, making it difficult to find your way back.

You always need to confess your sins to the Lord. You should also confess your sins to those you have wronged. If you have committed serious sins, such as immorality, you need to confess them to your bishop.

Then read and discuss the following from Joseph F. Smith:

True repentance is not only sorrow for sins and humble penitence and contrition before God, but it involves the necessity of turning away from them, a discontinuance of all evil practices and deeds, a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good, from vice to virtue, from darkness to light. Not only so, but to make restitution so far as is possible for all the wrongs that we have done, to pay our debts and restore to God and man their rights, that which is due them from us. This is true repentance and the exercise of the will and all the powers of body and mind is demanded to complete this glorious work of repentance.

5. Closing Prayer

Additional Resources: You Can Be Forgiven (New Era, Oct. 2001)
What is True Repentance (New Era, May 1974)
Jesus Made Repentance Possible (FHE Resource Book, Lesson 10)
Gospel Art Picture Kit: Jesus Praying in Gethsemane
Repentance (Gospel Principles, Chapter 19)