Listen Here

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget to rate and review on Apple or Spotify. When you rate and review the show, you help Jaime reach more people.

What Is True Repentance According to the Bible?

What does real repentance actually look like?

In 2 Kings 6–7, we are given a sobering picture of outward sorrow that does not match inward surrender. The king of Israel tears his garments. He wears sackcloth. He acknowledges that the calamity has come from the Lord.

And yet, his heart tells a different story.

This passage forces us to confront a difficult question:

Is our repentance real, or are we simply going through the motions?

The Siege of Samaria: A Crisis That Exposed the Heart

In 2 Kings 6:24–29, the king of Syria besieges Samaria. The famine becomes so severe that food prices skyrocket to unimaginable levels. The suffering escalates to horrific depths. The situation is devastating.

The crisis exposes the moral and spiritual state of the nation.

Calamity has a way of revealing what is already in the heart.

When the king hears of the unimaginable tragedy within the city walls, he tears his clothes. But as he passes by, the people see that underneath his royal garments, he is already wearing sackcloth.

Sackcloth in Scripture symbolizes humility, repentance, mourning, and sorrow before God. It was rough, uncomfortable material worn against the skin to signify brokenness.

On the outside, it appears the king is humbling himself.

But is he truly repentant?

Outward Signs of Repentance vs. a Broken Heart

The king says in 2 Kings 6:33:

“Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

This statement reveals the true condition of his heart.

He acknowledges God’s involvement. He recognizes divine judgment. Yet immediately, he expresses impatience and frustration. He wants to stop waiting. He wants to take matters into his own hands.

That is not surrender.

True repentance does not demand that God move on our timeline.

The king’s outward actions appear correct:

• He tears his garments.
• He wears sackcloth.
• He acknowledges God’s hand.

But internally, he resists God’s authority and blames Elisha. He even calls for Elisha’s execution.

Outward religion without inward transformation is not repentance.

Why “Why Should I Wait on the Lord?” Is a Dangerous Question

“Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

This phrase is central to the passage.

It reveals:

• Impatience with God’s timing
• Frustration with perceived delay
• A desire to regain control

When we feel powerless, we are tempted to manipulate outcomes. We want answers now. We want relief now. We want resolution now.

But waiting on God is not passivity. It is trust.

The king wanted deliverance without submission.

Real repentance includes surrendering our timeline.

The Trap of Formula-Based Christianity

One of the most dangerous spiritual traps is believing Christianity is a formula.

If I:

• Pray enough
• Read enough Scripture
• Attend church regularly
• Do the right religious actions

Then God must respond the way I expect.

But Scripture does not present a formula. It presents a relationship.

Jesus healed differently in different situations. He responded uniquely each time. There was no step-by-step system.

The command was simple: “Follow Me.”

Following requires trust. Not control.

The Church Today: A Form of Godliness Without Power

2 Timothy 3:5 warns of people who have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.”

This passage in 2 Kings mirrors that warning.

The king had:

• The appearance of humility
• The outward symbols of repentance
• The correct religious language

But his heart remained unchanged.

The power of godliness is not in appearance. It is in truth lived out. It is in genuine transformation. It is in humility that yields control to God.

The condition of the heart determines whether repentance is real.

The Parable of the Sower: The Soil of the Heart

Jesus explains in Luke 8 that the seed of God’s Word falls on different types of soil:

• Hard ground where it is taken away
• Rocky ground where it has no root
• Thorny ground where it is choked
• Good ground where it bears fruit with patience

Notice that last word: patience.

True repentance produces fruit over time. It endures temptation. It waits. It trusts. It does not demand immediate outcomes.

The soil represents the state of the heart.

The question is not whether we hear the Word.

The question is what kind of soil we are.

When God Delivers in His Timing

In 2 Kings 7, Elisha prophesies that within 24 hours, the famine will end.

And it does.

God brings supernatural deliverance. The Syrian army flees. Provision floods the city. The Word of the Lord proves true.

God was not absent.

He was working.

The king’s impatience did not accelerate the miracle. God’s timing remained perfect.

The lesson is clear:

The answer, the victory, and the provision are found in God’s time, God’s way, and God’s will.

True Repentance: Rend Your Heart, Not Your Garments

The ultimate issue is not outward behavior.

It is the heart.

Do we truly want God’s will?

Or do we want our will with God’s blessing?

True repentance means:

• Taking responsibility
• Submitting control
• Trusting God’s timing
• Allowing the Word to define us

We do not carve our own version of Jesus to suit our preferences. We allow Scripture to expose and transform us.

Truth confronts.

But truth also sets us free.

Reflection

Ask yourself:

Are you wearing sackcloth on the outside while resisting surrender on the inside?

Or have you truly yielded your heart to God?

Because the only place of lasting victory, provision, and freedom is found in complete surrender to Him.

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Jaime Luce (00:00.588)
Welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. I’m so pleased to be with you today. Spend some time in God’s word. I hope you’ve enjoyed been enjoying the, it’s not a series, but it’s just this, these last couple of weeks, how they’ve all tied together. They’ve really been a blessing to me. So I hope they’ve been a blessing to you. today we’re going to be in second Kings. We are still in chapter six and we are going to be going from verse 24 through chapter seven verse.

So that it’s a good little chunk of verses there. And what we’re going to be talking about today is is it true repentance? Is it true repentance? There is a real and present example of this happening so much right now in our media and

There are those who say they’re sorry for things that we’re finding out about and things that are going on in government and in all aspects of life and people come forward and they say they’re sorry or that’s not really what I was doing and they are maneuvering to hopefully get out of whatever the mess is that they have now.

found themselves in. So fake tears, right? We’ve, I should have titled it fake tears, fake tears. we’ve all seen them. If you’ve ever seen a little child, not get what they want, you will see fake tears. It’s very prevalent amongst little ones. And, it’s, it’s not that, it’s not that it’s only

found and seen in children. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to change even as our bodies grow. We still act in this way. No real changes as we get older. My mom used to work for the California Youth Authority many, many years ago and they would, you know, go arrest and bring in and there were teenagers.

Jaime Luce (02:23.296)
off the street for whatever they had done, whatever they were caught doing, whatever crimes they were committing. And she would see them in there crying, if not sobbing. It was, they could put on quite a show and they would honestly say what you would expect. They would say, I’m so sorry. Either they were very repentful, just, you know, just so sorry, or it’s not what you think, or I’m going to get, you know, what’s going to happen to me now.

and I didn’t mean it and I’ll never do it again and all these promises. The problem was she would always say this. They would be crying. I mean and crying pretty heavily and she’d say they’re not crying because they’re actually sorry. They’re crying because they were caught. If they hadn’t been caught they wouldn’t be crying and they would still be doing the very thing that they are brought in here for doing and this is sadly the case.

and most of our lives, I, this is probably going to hit home today. I really think I need to tell you to, you know, to buckle up because I, we like to always point the finger and say, not me, them, them. And today this is kind of, I hope you’re willing to stay with me, but this today is a look inward today. This is about us. This is about motive. This is about what’s really going on on the inside of us. And,

We’re going to start by reading the text. And like I said, it’s a long text. So if you’ve got your Bibles, please get them out and read along with me. I, I don’t, I’m not a Bible on my phone kind of person. I don’t like that. Some people that’s their Bible. They do it that way. I just don’t like doing that. I like to be able to look at it, hold it, feel it, smell it. You know, I,

I know where it is. go back to it. I can highlight it and I can make all my notes and everything else. But I want us to take the time to go through this, even though it’s a little bit lengthy. We need to see the entire scenario. You need to understand the beginning from the end. And most likely, I’m not promising, but most likely next week will be the same passage, but from a different part of the story.

Jaime Luce (04:45.59)
I’m not sure of that yet, so we’ll see. But this is what really the Holy Spirit really spoke to my heart as I was reading this. And it’s one of those times where I’m gripped by something and I’m like, why? Why that? And as I begin to dig and let him lead me on a little journey, he shows me things that’s like, gosh, yeah, that’s…

huge. I would have I would have read right over it and and I have in the past. So today you’re getting getting some fresh bread. I hope you are ready for some fresh bread today. so we’ll start verse 24. So we’ve been talking about these Syrians and last week we talked about the deliverance from the band of raiders but this we this week we’re we’re gonna see a new tactic that

Ben-Hadad, there were more than one Ben-Hadad’s of Syria, but this particular Ben-Hadad, what his plan and plot was in order to defeat Israel, and it starts in verse 24 and says, chapter six, just in case you’re looking, chapter six, verse 24, and it happened after this, that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.

So to besiege means that they are encamped all around on the outsides of the walls so that you’re trapped on the inside of the walls. They can’t get in. They’re able to, Israel is able to make a defense from the inside to keep them out so they can keep their, keep themselves alive. But the problem is you can’t go out and get food.

You can’t go out and get water at some point. It’s a starvation method and a tactic to starve you to the point that you either die on the inside and they just come in or you are so weakened that they are able to come in. Okay, so this was his tactic. This was the plan he had verse 25 and there was a great famine in Samaria and indeed.

Jaime Luce (07:09.826)
They besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and one fourth of a cob of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. Now this is gonna get really gross. That’s already gross. And it’s gonna get a little graphic and shocking. depending on who’s listening, know the Bible tells the truth. And a lot of this stuff we’re finding out is still happening today.

People think it’s not happening, but this is happening today and there’s nothing new under the sun. Verse 26. Then as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, help me my Lord, O King. And he said, if the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor.

or from the winepress. I mean, his response to her is basically, there’s nothing I can do and you know it, where am I gonna get help for you? And he mocks, you know, sarcastically, like if, as if there’s something in the winepress that’s not been used and something at the threshing floor that hasn’t already been eaten. Verse 28. Then the king said to her, what is troubling you? And she answered, this is your warning.

This woman said to me, give me your son that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, give me your son that we may eat him. But she has hidden her son. Now it happened when the king heard the words of the woman that he tore his clothes.

And as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body. Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today. But Elisha was sitting in his house,

Jaime Luce (09:36.136)
the elders were sitting with him and the king sent a man ahead of him but before the messenger came to him he said to the elders Elisha said to the elders do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head so he’s explaining you all know that king Jehoram Jehoram there it came to me so Elisha is sitting in his house and again we see him

sitting in his house, knowing what the enemy, now what the enemy’s doing and plotting and when they’re coming. The same way he knew when the Syrians were coming, he knew when the king was in enemy mode and when he was coming. And he refers to him as the son of a murderer because his father and mother were Ahab and Jezebel. And Ahab,

had, well Jezebel had, and Ahab went along with it, had Naboth killed so that they could take his field. Okay. So what Elisha is implying is that his parents were murderers and he also is a murderer at heart. Okay. This is what he’s implying and that he knows because he’s coming after my head.

And what’s interesting is we see, we see the evidence of this. I’ll, I’ll go back to that later. And the King see an Elisha sitting in his house and the elder sitting with him and the King sent a man ahead of him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Sounds just like his parents. Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door.

is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him. So he’s letting them know the king’s coming too. So hold this one at the door until the king gets here. Verse 33. And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger coming down to him. And then the king said, surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?

Jaime Luce (12:03.256)
Now that’s a really key verse. The king is saying, this calamity is from the Lord. So he feels judged by this. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? This phrase, I think that we can many times

find ourselves feeling and possibly saying, if not these exact same words, things that mimic these exact same words. I’ve waited long enough. God’s not coming.

God must have done this, God wants this, he’s not coming. What we’re saying is I have run out of patience and I’m going to take matters into my own hands. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? He’s implying that he was waiting for God to save them. So he’s implied two things here. He has implied that this is

happening because of God. Okay, God did this and then he’s implying that he’s been waiting to do it God’s way to get an answer because God’s going to come through and change the situation. Now why would he think that? Why would he think that? Now we’ll go back to that in a minute but why would he think that? Chapter seven, then Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord.

So here comes the king and now he’s responding. Thus says the Lord tomorrow about this time, a say a fine flower shall be sold for a shekel and two say is a barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. So he’s saying tomorrow, God’s going to deal with this tomorrow by tomorrow. God will deal with this. This is not. So this is going to be in one day within 24 hours. This will all be dealt with. That’s an amazing word.

Jaime Luce (14:21.14)
So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, look, can you just hear it? Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? I mean, he has, he just completely dismisses Elisha’s word. And he said, in fact, so this is what Elisha’s response is. In fact, you shall see it with your eyes.

But you shall not eat it.

You’ll see it, you don’t get to eat of it. Verse three. Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another why are we sitting here until we die? If we say we will enter the city the famine is in the city and we shall die there and if we sit here we die also. Now therefore come let us surrender to the army of the Syrians.

If they keep us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall only die. I mean, they’re basically saying we have this many options, we’ve thought them all through, in all of them but one, there is a possibility that we don’t die and that we get to live. Verse five, and they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, there was no one there.

For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses and the noise of a great army. So they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us, the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. Therefore they arose and fled at twilight. I mean, this happened almost virtually at the same time.

Jaime Luce (16:23.928)
that Elisha’s prophesying this, at twilight, and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it.

Then they said to one another, we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. And we remain silent. A power of a testimony. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.

So they went and called to the gatekeeper of the city and told them saying, we went to the Syrian camp and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound, only horses and donkeys tied in the tents intact. So the gatekeepers called out and they told it to the king’s household inside. So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. So this is what the king thinks this is all about. They know that we’re hungry.

Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field saying, when they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, please let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it, or indeed I say they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are.

who are consumed. So let us send them and see. He’s saying this is our last resource and this is our last chance. And they kind of had the same idea as the lepers. Either we try it and nothing, I mean, what’s gonna be their fate if we keep them in here? We’re all gonna die in here if we don’t go try. So at least let’s go out and look. Verse 14. Therefore they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army saying, go and see.

Jaime Luce (18:45.484)
and they went after them to the Jordan. And indeed, all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a sayah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two sayahs of barley for a shekel according to the word of the Lord.

Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate and he died just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king saying, two sayas of barley for a shekel and a say of fine flour for a shekel shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.

then that officer had answered the man of God and said, now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And he had said to him, in fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died. Okay, now I know that was a lot of scripture, a long passage.

an entire chapter plus the ending of chapter six. And I’m not sure why they split six where they did and put seven where they did that. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m not, I wasn’t chosen for the handling of this beautiful Bible. So I need to keep my opinions to myself. Anyway, I want to concentrate. There’s so much here. We’re not gonna take, we’re not gonna go over the whole thing.

But I do want us to concentrate at the end of chapter six and, and really hone in on the King here before, before we entered the part where the lepers go in to the Syrian camp. I think this is really, beneficial and it’s important. This is really important. I hope that when you read scripture or when God

Jaime Luce (21:07.69)
shines his light on something, that you weigh it in the balance and find its value and its importance. When God speaks to our hearts, it is never a light thing, that the God of heaven is speaking truth and exposing things that need exposing. Hi, my name is Jaime Luce.

I wanted to share with you some information about a brand new book entitled, Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God. It’s a playbook for miraculous provision. And I want to share it with you because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy. Gas prices are soaring. There’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do. And so many times we think we need the money.

but you don’t need money. I’m telling you the answer is you need God. And that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it so that you get answers now. You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to jamylouc.com. can also find this book at youdon’tneedmoneyyoujustneedgod.com. This book is available today.

You know, we always want like we want right now in our governments and in our societies. We want the wicked exposed and we want truth to be told and we want answers to the problems that we’re facing. And that’s okay that we want those things. That’s right that we want those things. We’re wanting righteousness to rule in the land. says the people are happy when the king is

is righteous basically and we’re wanting righteousness in our land and you can’t have righteousness sometimes without the judgment coming and the exposing of what is truth and what is a lie and in order to to have that we end up finding out stuff we we have inclinations we have our suspicions on what we think is going on and sometimes the truth is far worse right

Jaime Luce (23:27.8)
But the truth, so many times there’s valuable truth that needs to be exposed in us. You know, we can see whole groups of people right now. And I’m talking about in the church. Forget the world, it’s obvious in the world, but we have whole groups of people who attend churches. They call them churches and these people call themselves Christians.

but they ignore the instruction of the word. They just take out what they don’t want. Or they say, well, that was for then, that’s not for now. They change by their own wills the meaning of what they and what they can take from scripture. They alter it to match what they want it to be, which is idol worship. You’re making an image

That’s why Jesus said there are many false, there will, there will be many false Jesus’s out there and there are, and it’s an image that’s made and they carve it themselves. I like this. I don’t like that. Make it be this way. Not that way. Make it have this and not have that. I mean, they literally carve an image and call it Jesus, but it’s not, it’s not King Jesus. And we have to live by truth.

That’s why I we have to buckle up today because we have, you have to love truth. We can’t love truth to the point that it exposes others and gives us what we want, but it doesn’t confront our own hearts. Truth has to confront our own hearts. Otherwise we will be no better than the ones we read about here. How can I call myself

one thing but live the standard of another. I have to be honest with myself, with my life, with my choices, with my thoughts and my actions. What I cling to and what I walk away from, I have to be honest with the truth. I have to, the word says I have to rightly divide the truth.

Jaime Luce (25:54.39)
We have to truly handle it and weigh it and see what it has to say. And we have to let it define us, not us define it. The word reads us. We don’t read the word. I mean, we read it with our natural eyes, but it’s the word that reads us. It’s the word that is the mirror that shows us what

we really look like. And it determines the course of our life. So I want us to look at verse 30. We’ve just read, going back to verses 24 through 29, is explaining the siege that is on Israel and they are in a famine and this woman tells her neighbor, we’ll eat.

your son today and my son tomorrow so that we have something to eat. mean, that’s, it’s the worst possible, they’re taking innocent life. They’re killing their children and then cannibalism and eating them. I mean, I, I don’t know how much worse that gets. It’s, and yet we’re seeing, like I said, we’re seeing even far worse news of things right now coming to light. That is just,

It’s things I can’t even let my mind go to because I just can’t go there. just, it’s so demonic and repulsive. I just can’t, I just can’t go there. So let’s read verse 30. This is the King’s response.

Now it happened when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes and as he passed by on the wall the people looked and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. And then if we jump to verse 33, it says, while he was still talking with them, there was a messenger coming down to him.

Jaime Luce (28:02.826)
And then the king said, surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? I want to dissect this and really open this up to you here. So, Sackloth, first let me give you definition. Sackloth, they see he’s walking on the wall. This woman has told this horrible tale of what she has done and this other woman has done.

and he rips his clothes. The Bible will say they rent their garments. He ripped his clothes, tore his clothes, and they could see as he passed by with his clothes ripped that underneath he had sackcloth on his body. And you’ve probably heard the term, and it’s in the Bible many times, sackcloth and ashes. We have a little joke.

in our family that one of the family members when she was little and she would be upset about something she didn’t get her way or something happened that upset her and she would throw her arms down and her head down and shoulders would slump and as she would walk away in her dejected way, my mom would say, there goes sackcloth and ashes because she had dejected herself and she was undone. It was just the worst.

And I make light of that, but this was a very serious thing. Sat cloth was a common, very rough, uncomfortable material made of goats hair. And it was worn against the skin to signify sorrow, repentance, mortality, and humility. It was common to wear it in response to sin, meaning a repentance of sin.

You are acknowledging sin and you are repenting or disasters. So King Jehoram actually was in essence to the outward appearance. He was humbling himself before God or was he was he truly repentant? It’s why I started and opened this this morning.

Jaime Luce (30:20.842)
or today, if it’s morning, noon or night for you. I opened it with the story of my mother working for the California Youth Authority because they would come in, they would look sorrowful, their body language would say sorrowful, their tears would say they were sorry, but they weren’t truly sorry. They were going through the motions of sorry. They were feeling a type of

pain and sorrow, but what they were sorry for was being caught. The jigs up. Now there are consequences. You’re having to pay the consequences now. Okay. So for King Jehoram, to the outward appearance, I mean, he ripped his clothes at the appropriate time, but he already had sackcloth on. So before hearing this, they could see that he was in a

what seemed to be the position of repentance and sorrow. And he himself said this calamity is from the Lord. So he’s saying, okay, I brought this on us. We have sinned, we’re not living right. Obviously we’re not living right if going into a famine causes us this kind of behavior. has seen this, God is in charge of this for sure. But then his words are, why should I wait for the Lord?

any longer. That phrase opens up to us the actual condition of his heart, the actual state of his heart.

He had said in verse 27 to the woman, if the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? Okay, so that’s a true acknowledgement. If he’s seeing his own mortality, he is seeing that he is powerless in a famine if he is stuck in the city gates and unable to help them.

Jaime Luce (32:31.808)
If there’s no more food in the wine press and there’s no more food in the dressing floor, what can I do? So verse 30, when he hears what the woman said and he tears his clothes, it’s an outward sign of an extremely emotional, just emotionally distressing time. And it’s a time of mourning, of grief or horror or repentance.

It represents a broken heart or shock at tragic news or a public demonstration of anguish and sincere repentance before God. And what’s so difficult to maneuver is a sincere person would do the exact same actions as the insincere person.

thinking that if I go through the motions, I will get the result I want.

we can fall into this wretched trap. This is the trap of the enemy. We tend to look at Christianity as the 12 steps to get the answer that I want. And if I do it quote unquote God’s way, then I can get it my way. If I need an answer from God, okay, I’m going to pray three times a day. I’m going to make sure and read my Bible at least this many minutes, this many times, you know, and I’m going to go

I’m go say I’m sorry to somebody that I have done wrong. and we, we make a list of to do’s.

Jaime Luce (34:21.006)
But the Lord is concerned about our heart. He’s concerned with the condition of our heart.

Jaime Luce (34:33.314)
When the king in verse 30 says that the in verse I’m sorry not when the king says when in verse 30 it says that the people were watching and that they saw underneath his robes the sackcloth on his body

were also getting a glimpse then that not only did the people very intently watch to see how the king responded to know kind of how should we respond, but when they did, when they watched and they saw what they saw, they are misled by his insincerity because they see what appears to be

Repentance? But to them they’re thinking then why isn’t it working? Why are we in this mess? He’s the king, he’s leading this people.

And we forget that people are watching us. We forget that our family members are watching us. If you have children or a spouse, they’re watching you to see how do you respond.

And the condition of your heart is what will actually affect them. Not the steps that we take because that’s the thing you’re supposed to do. It has to be real. It has to be real. That’s why Jesus can say that there will be those on that day who say, Lord, Lord. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you. I never knew you.

Jaime Luce (36:23.704)
People who it says that they call on his name, that they did miracles in his name, cast out demons in his name.

Jaime Luce (36:37.24)
People who knew what to do and how to do it and when to do it and got results by doing it that way.

Jaime Luce (36:49.772)
Sadly, that is why we are seeing so many people with worldwide ministries crumbling to the ground.

I could name some right now, things that are being exposed about people who on the outside, it sure looked good on the outside, but it wasn’t what it appeared to be. It wasn’t at all what it appeared to be. And there are those coming forth with true cries of repentance, true cries of repentance. And then there are those that

Many are waiting to see. They’re looking. The garment is rent. It’s torn. And underneath, the people are watching and they see sackcloth on the body. But they’re waiting to see, is it real? Is the repentance real?

Is it real?

Jaime Luce (37:59.02)
Or will they at some point say, I’ve waited on God long enough. This is really serious guys. This is happening right now in the church right now. This is 2026 and it is happening right now. If you happen to be listening to this or watching this when it actually airs, this is February of 2026. And if you look at the news headlines,

regarding the church and you look at the church rightly so people who are in ministries rightly so exposing the truth.

The scripture says that God starts when he cleans house, he starts in the house of God first. Before he deals with the world, he deals with the church. And there are people who are taking tons of criticism for coming out and exposing it. But they should be. We as Christians should be holding one another as brothers and sisters in Christ accountable.

The New Testament is riddled with what circumstances that they were really dealing with and scenarios that Paul would make clear. You deal with this and you deal with it in a very specific way and if they won’t receive your correction, you get rid of them. You deal with it in front of the church and you get rid of them. I mean, that’s the Bible.

And I’m really worried that we have been living very comfortably without realizing that we are serving a Jesus that we have been carving and taking off all the edges that we think are hard edges. No, don’t expose them, that’s too harsh. No, that’ll damage the body of Christ. Instead of knowing it’s like a cancer, if you don’t cut it out, it’ll kill the person. You have to cut that out.

Jaime Luce (40:08.366)
Sometimes there are major things we have to do to deal with these circumstances. You don’t chip away at who Jesus is. You deal with it in the body.

Jaime Luce (40:22.178)
And this king, now he wasn’t serving God, but the people were watching. This is just a analogy. It’s just a great depiction of what we need to look for and how people respond.

Jaime Luce (40:42.83)
By all accounts, outward appearance, the king was repentant. Jehoram obviously knew that according to God’s laws, that if you were calling on him, you called on him in true repentance. That you would rip your clothes and you would put sackcloth and sometimes ashes on your head.

sackcloth against your body, ashes on your head. Sometimes you would do that. And we just saw in this same chapter that Jehoram saw God bring about great deliverance through Elisha, both from the band of Syrian raiders who were coming inside the camp. They got in the walls raiding. And then he saw the great deliverance that was between him and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom.

So he was aware that Elisha was God’s man and Elisha by the word of God brought about a great deliverance that it was by Elisha that intervention was made by God. So his history with Elisha is that if he’s in trouble and he knows it,

It’s most likely God’s judgment and Elisha is the only one who can help him. And he believes this. He believes it. And we know he believes it because he repeats that he knows it by saying, surely the calamity is from the Lord. And he does the outward signs of repentance. He knows God expects repentance and therefore he does the outward signs of it.

It’s like people who say, yeah, I know that I’m supposed to go to church. Okay, so I go to church. But are you going and serving God when you go? Is it a thing you do or is it a part of your life?

Jaime Luce (42:59.564)
both. let’s okay so let’s go to verse 31.

He talks and speaks to Elisha. Well, before he speaks to Elisha, he says,

Let’s look at verse Then he said, God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat remains on him today. He literally in his heart, when he’s not getting what he wants by doing the things he should be doing, he literally reverts to the behavior and the heart posture of his parents, which was murder.

That very phrase, he heard both his father said it about Elijah and his mother said it about Elijah, both of them. And rightfully so, here comes Elisha saying, that son of a murderer. He’s pointing out they were murderers in their hearts and so is this king. Whatever you see on the outside, you see the robes,

torn, you see the sackcloth against his body, you see the right response to the horrible things that he hears from this woman. And yet what’s really in his heart is, I’m going to hold Elisha responsible for this mess, as if Elisha is the one determining God’s behavior.

Jaime Luce (44:41.834)
Instead of the roles reversed where God determines and sends Elisha. He’s hold. He wants to hold responsible the one who’s actually doing it right. He himself is doing it wrong and he wants to hold responsible the one who does it right. So he doesn’t actually think that his sin is what’s brought this because if he did.

His repentance would be real. It just unfolds to us that all of the things he’s doing are completely insincere. He doesn’t really believe he’s guilty. He doesn’t really believe that God has done this because of him and his sin, which means he doesn’t really believe in what God says. And he doesn’t believe that Elisha is a messenger of God in the way that he has been used so far.

even though the evidence is there. It makes no sense to the mind. It really makes no sense. And we look at groups of people right now and we say, nothing you’re saying makes any sense. There’s no logic. It’s irrational, irrational. And yet this is what, like I said, there’s nothing new under the sun. Everything that we see here, we’re living this today. This word never loses its power.

It never loses its validity. It never loses its relevancy. For people who want to change it and say it’s not relevant anymore, baloney. It is just as relevant today. This is Old Testament, just as relevant today as it was then.

Jaime Luce (46:28.024)
We also see in verse 33, surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? So in essence, he is throwing literally a vicious fit, because he wants to commit murder, a vicious fit, because he can’t make God do what he wants him to do by obeying the rules, quote unquote. He hates feeling powerless, and he wants to take the power back into his control.

and we are all tempted when we feel powerless to want to take back control instead of leaving it in God’s instead of following his instructions to get us out of it. I mean, literally we just had read last week about Elisha, literally, this is so, here comes the army and God has Elisha make them blind.

And as they’re blind, he leads them away and makes a way of escape and then brings about a complete deliverance. When you think you’re powerless, God still has all the power. You don’t need the power. You need God to have the power. You need God to do what God does. And we are all tempted, all of us, that in a moment of feeling powerless, that we would want to take

back the reins that we want to control the situation. We want to manipulate it. We want to do it our way. We don’t want to wait on God. Why should I wait on God any longer? Do you hear the danger? Do you hear the danger? I hope you can hear it. I’m not yelling at you. I’m not doing this at you. I’m trying to help us to see.

I’m trying to help us see truth and shine the flashlight of God’s truth on our own hearts to make sure that we are in the right place. That we are, like Elisha, able to know the truth from a lie, to see where the enemy would attack, to know how to deal with it rightly so that we can hear when God says, don’t worry, by this time tomorrow, I’m taking care of this.

Jaime Luce (48:54.914)
By this time tomorrow, you will live in a completely different situation. Famine over, food in abundance, clothes, gold, silver, donkeys, chair, everything. It’s all gonna be in abundance tomorrow. Your problem’s over tomorrow. But we wanna take control now. We don’t realize we’re causing damage now by not waiting on God.

I think if we’re honest, we can all say we have all felt this way.

Jaime Luce (49:29.494)
We all think at some point, I’ve done all the right things. Why isn’t it working? I’ve done all the right things. We don’t realize we are trusting in a formula, a formula, and there is no formula. Jesus healed people different all the time. And I think the reason he did it different all the time and different outcomes and prayed for some people multiple times or waited and they died, I mean, he did it different always. And I think the reason he did,

was to show us there is no formula. The command was, follow me. Just follow me.

It, didn’t even say follow me and copy everything you see me doing and just do that. And you’ll learn what to do. Follow means I could turn left. I could turn right. I could go up. I could go down. I could spin in circles. We could jump and twist. It’s going to be different all the time. Every circumstance might need a different answer. You’re not lost because

This doesn’t look like it did last time. You don’t have to worry. That shouldn’t bring fear to you. You should just know my job is to follow him. If I follow him, he will lead me to the answer. He is your help and strength. It’s Jesus is the answer. The answer isn’t the answer. Jesus is the answer. It’s why I wrote the book, You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God.

It’s not money you need. You need Jesus to provide whatever it is that needs providing. Whatever that provision is, you need God to provide it. What you might need provided is not money. It’s just what the money would buy. You need that thing. You need that. You don’t. It’s like saying, I need a house, not just money that the house provides. Right?

Jaime Luce (51:39.638)
you need a place to live, that’s the need. So you need God to provide a place to live. So then that means he’s in control of all the things that need to happen to make sure you have a place to live. You need God.

Jaime Luce (51:54.604)
I didn’t mean to bring up the book, but if you’re in a situation, cause I give you so many stories of different scenarios and different things that we needed. And we always think it’s the money. We always think we need, you don’t need money. You just need God. You need God. And we teach you if you need that tool, you can get that on my website. can go to Amazon. you can go to, you don’t need money. You just need God.com. You can just, if, you need help,

in seeing different scenarios played out in real time, so to speak, not just that I give you the scripture, I give you what was done in scripture and then we lived it and I, and I show you how we lived it and what God did. And if you need that help, that’s available. I’m just, that’s an extra resource. You can get that if you want that, but I didn’t mean to go there. So we just have to know Jesus is the answer, no matter what we’re dealing with and no matter what,

pain we’re feeling the extremity of the pain. knows and he knows where all the limits are and he knows why he’s doing what he’s doing and he knows why he’s doing it in the time frame. He’s doing it. That’s a test of our trust. Do I trust God in the timing? That’s why this King said, why should I wait on the Lord any longer? He has his own time.

And sometimes it takes all we’ve got to surrender our timeline. Surrender our timeline.

That’s not an easy task. I watched a family member beautifully surrender their time.

Jaime Luce (53:36.63)
And it was a long, long wait. But I can report to you that just recently, God did exactly what he promised he’d do. And that has finally, that God answered that and did it beautifully. And it’s a joy and a wonder to walk in it. God is so faithful. But there were temptations all along the way in that story of

resubmitting and re.

It’s a form of humility, but re…

affirming the humility and submission of their life to God’s timeline, not their own. Without getting rebellious, without taking some seriously wrong turns that they could have, without going down paths that were not meant for them, God had a way. And because they were faithful to walk in that way, God answered that.

And it was beautiful. It was God’s doing. And it was marvelous in our eyes, as the scripture says.

Jaime Luce (54:54.114)
Do I have a question for us today? We’ll be closing with this.

Are we wanting God to truly have his way in our life?

or do we want our way?

Do we really want God to have his way in our life? It’s time to get honest. Or do we really want our way?

Do we want to be transformed into the likeness and image of His Son Jesus Christ?

Jaime Luce (55:30.752)
Or are we like what Paul wrote about in 2 Timothy 3.5 that says, they have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof from such turn away. From such turn away. We are to turn away from those who have a form of godliness, but they deny the true power.

They deny the true power. The power is in the truth. The power is in the action of the truth. That’s where the power lies. This is truly a warning for us to stay away from people who appear to be righteous or seem to perform religious acts, but aren’t actually transformed. Their hearts are still hard and hold to their own agendas. They have a plan.

They have an agenda and they’re gonna work that plan and that agenda. They never accept responsibility for themselves or the messes that they are in. And they want pity, but not change. Just like the California Youth Authority. They want your pity, but they don’t wanna change. And even when God, by His mercy,

brings deliverance. Their hearts are not moved for loss.

It reminds me of the parable of the sower and the soils. The soil represents the state of the heart. I’m going to read that to you as we close. This is in Luke and I’m reading from chapter eight, starting in verse four. And when a great multitude had gathered and they had come to him from every city, he spoke by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed,

Jaime Luce (57:38.39)
Some fell by the wayside and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock, and as soon as it sprang up it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up and yielded a crop.

When he said these things, he cried, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Then his disciples asked him, saying, What does this parable mean? And he said, To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the rest, it is given in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Because there are those who don’t really want to know the truth. To the ones who seek to know the truth, they can know the truth. But to the ones who aren’t really seeking, they won’t understand. They won’t know. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

But the ones on the rock are those who when they hear receive the word with joy. And these have no root who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among the thorns are those when they have heard go out and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those

who having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Jaime Luce (59:46.424)
with patience. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Because the only answer and the true place of salvation and the true place of victory and provision is in God’s time.

God’s way, God’s

Let me pray for you today.

Father, I know that this was a hard…

But it’s a word nonetheless that we need to hear a word of truth because truth is truly what sets us free. It makes us free and the freedom it brings is that we know you do love us and your plan for us is good and that you never leave us and you never forsake us and that you are going to bring about the answer and you don’t delay. It’s just that our time

Jaime Luce (01:00:49.528)
looks different than yours. So today, Father, we place our trust in your plan, your way, your purposes, O God. Accomplish in us what will transform us into the likeness of your Son.

cause us to see our hearts as they truly are. And if need be, if we need to repent, that we would rend our hearts and not our garments, and that we would humble ourselves before our awesome and wonderful God and submit our lives in total to you.

Your word teaches that we are to live our lives and give them as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service. We give our hearts and our lives to you today, God. We say have your way. We do ask that you bring the answer quickly. Just as the answer was going to come in 24 hours, I pray, Father, those that have been waiting, receive their answer.

And we will be so careful, Lord Jesus, to give you all the glory for the praise belongs to you and you alone. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

I pray that this was a blessing to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to dig into God’s word and allow his light to shine on our hearts today. Take this word, let it be your meat that you chew on. I have faith in you. I know you’re not just babes, that you don’t need just milk. You can handle the heavier weightier things of the word. You can handle the meat of the word and chew on it. Let it be nourishment to your souls today.

Jaime Luce (01:02:46.646)
If you want to get a copy of any of the old, not old, I guess some of them are old, but any previous broadcasts, you can do that by going to my website. If you want to get a hold of my book, you can get that there as well. If I can be of any assistance in praying with you, you can leave me an email at mail at JaimeLucee.com. It was my pleasure to be with you today. I really am praying for you. hope that.

that you do see the answers that you need to see and that you receive the strength you need while you’re enduring. It was good to be with you. We’ll see you next week. Bye bye.