"RECEIVE WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU"

Good Evening to All!

Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(Psalm 139:23-24)

Often, when we are convicted of sin, we become very mood and grouchy because is dealing with us. Conviction is not an easy pill to swallow if you do not have the right mindset. If you are like I used to be, I would take offense to everything everyone said, whether they said it in a mean way or not. I felt condemned. Of course, back then I didn't know the difference between condemnation and conviction. Now, I look forward to being "convicted by the Lord", because that means He still finds me worth working on and molding into the kind of person He wants in heaven with Him. When I'm feeling convicted, I now feel like it's a good thing, because I WANT to be ready when He comes, and that won't happen without His help.

Conviction is the Holy Spirit's process in dealing with one's own conscience, alerting and sensitizing us to God's Word and demands. The idea of conviction is a major theme of Scripture, though the word is rarely used (Psalm 32:51; Acts 2:37; Romans 7:7-25). The "agent or deliverer of conviction is the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11). His means of convicting is either through the Word of God (Acts 2:37) or by God's general revelations of His demands through nature and man's moral consciousness which he was "born" with of right and wrong (Romans1:18-20; 2:15).

The purpose of conviction is to lead a person to repent of his sins (Acts 2:37-38; Romans 2:14) and to turn to God for salvation and eternal life. Even beyond one's new birth, (baptism of water and of Spirit) the Spirit of God still will deal with or convict us as our senses and sensibilities are refined through the Holy Spirit's sanctifying process in our lives.

I do want to say something in reference to the picture on the right. I have often heard the phrase "let your conscience be your guide". The problem with that is if you let the wrong thoughts into your conscience and let something other than the Holy Ghost guide your conscience, then that is not the right advice to go by. ALWAYS allow the Holy Spirit guide you or if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then do what God put in your conscience to begin with . Do the "RIGHT " thing.

As I have said many times, Salvation is a life long journey. Yes, we take steps toward it by Repenting, being baptized in Jesus' name and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost according to God's Plan of Salvation in Acts 2:38, but the full story doesn't stop there. We must then start Living for God. For this we definitely need the Holy Spirit's guidance and in put. It is not hard to live for God, especially with the Holy Ghost within us, but we will ALWAYS need guidance. I don't care if we've only been a Christian for one day, or 80 years. we will always need the Holy Ghost's help to show us what God wants. It is the Holy Ghost that points a scripture out to you when you are reading and brings a deeper meaning to it for whatever we are going through that day. It is the Holy Ghost within us that keeps us or nudges us to keep our mouths quiet when we would love to tell someone off because they wronged us. It is the Holy Ghost that reminds us that gossip is not cool. Would we want people talking about us behind our backs? This Holy Spirit has kept me from digging a hole with my words that I could not have gotten out of, many times.

So, THREE CHEERS FOR CONVICTION AND THE HOLY GHOST!

Good Night to All and May God Bless!