A counselee taking active steps of repentance is a core part of the counseling process. In the counseling room, the counselor calls men and women to put off the old man and to put on the new (Eph. 4:22-24). Yet, as any counselor can tell you, that is not always how it goes. Sometimes a counselor labors over a counselee for weeks, and there is no change. The counselor may follow up the session with text messages of encouragement, spend time praying for them in the evening, and take other steps that they might not normally take—and yet to no avail. There are many reasons why a counselee may not take a step of repentance, but there is one not normally mentioned: that counselee was not granted repentance.
Repentance is a Gift that is Given by God
When Christ and Nicodemus are recorded talking in John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless he is born of “water and the Spirit” he cannot see the kingdom of God. Meaning that until God has done something in each and every person’s heart (that is, they must be born again or “from above”), they will always remain in their sin and unable to
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