Condemnation vs. Holy Spirit Conviction:

10\24\2008
Well this is my first blog...I wrote it few weeks back and couldn't figure out how to get it on here...and I work on computers for a living...I know right. Anyway, I'll just be dropping a few lines from time to time to share some of the things God deals with heart about. God bless.

Hosea 6:3-4 says this: Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord, His going forth is established as the morning, He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.

It is a miracle to me how God is faithful even when we are weak and faithless. Even when we turn away from him, he never stops pursuing us. Though our faithfulness is like a cloud that fades away, he is like the morning, never failing to come even after the darkest nights.

I remember that for a time in my life, especially during my teenage years, that I struggled fiercely with a thing that many, many people, both young and old wrestle inwardly with. A thing, a feeling, a thought pattern that can and will absolutely become a destructive force in an individuals life if not recognized, understood, and dealt with. This…thing is deadly. It crushes hope, destroys dreams, it makes it impossible to know peace and worst of all it separates us from God. This thing is not an addiction. It is not some deviate sin. It is not something that most would even be able to recognize. It slips into the unwary hearts of our young people and grows up, stronger inside of them with every mistake, every sin, every failure; with every judgmental word and pointing finger…with every stone thrown from the unwitting hands of fathers, mothers, even brothers and sisters in Christ. This thing is self-condemnation, and it is not from Christ.
There is a distinct line between condemnation and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God’s word tells us that He (Jesus) did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
One of the greatest advances in my relationship with Christ came in a moment when the Holy Spirit revealed to me the difference between self-condemnation and conviction and the reasons that self-condemnation is not from God, but instead is a tool used by Satan to trick God’s people into becoming self destructive and separating themselves from Christ.
This trickery works in a sly and devious way. It creeps into our minds when we sin and fall short of the glory of God and tells us that there is no hope. It whispers to our hearts to give up. It tells us that we can’t pray because we are not worthy. It says how dare you ask for forgiveness, you’re abusing his grace. It tells us we will never overcome, that we will always be bound by this sin.
I found that when I slipped up in some area of my life I would feel so bad, and be so hard on myself that I would literally distance myself from God. I would not pray or lift my hands in worship at church because I felt like a hypocrite. The more the guilt ate at me the further I felt from God until at times I fell into long periods of spiritual darkness…but when God showed me his grace…I mean when he gave me the understanding of his grace…what a miracle, what a change! Oh God thank you for your grace…for your word that says “For it is by grace we have been saved through faith and this not of ourselves, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, so that no man can boast.”
God has sent a word to break the bondage of condemnation upon his young people and open eyes to the deceptions of the enemy. He whispered a secret to my heart that he now whispers to you. When you fall get back up, keep pressing on. Say within your heart I will not let this keep me from pursing God. Pray all the harder, get into his word even deeper. This is a time to strengthen and renew your heart so that next time you may stand because you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.