|
Jul 05, 2013
Read | Romans 8:1-2
Sometimes it’s easy even for believers to become confused,
because emotions can be very tricky. For this reason, it is unwise to trust
feelings or base our decisions upon them.
But what about those times when you are unsure? You can
probably recall periods when you thought you were sensing conviction from the
Holy Spirit but wondered whether it might instead be condemnation from the
Enemy. There is a difference between emotion and true conviction, which means an
awareness of wrongdoing (John 16:7-8). The Holy Spirit prompts conviction of
sin as an expression of His love because He wants to keep you on the right
path. One sure way to distinguish conviction by the Holy Spirit is that He
will always identify something specific (Ps. 51:3-4; Luke 22:60-62). God
won’t hesitate to put His finger on whatever is outside of His will.
Conversely, the Enemy will try to inspire feelings of
condemnation and guilt by whispering something like, “You call yourself a
Christian? You’re a poor excuse for somebody who claims to be one of God’s
children.” The Enemy wants you so weighed down that you become ineffective
for the Lord. When believers listen to that deceitful voice, they can become
incapacitated by the untruths from the Father of Lies.
The Holy Spirit uses conviction positively—to warn against
danger or lovingly nudge an erring believer back onto the course the Lord
designed for his or her life. Thankfully, this is one of God’s unceasing acts
of love.
God bless you!
|
The Danger in Being a Christian: It began as a Jewish sect; fierce persecution only helped it spread Today's reading: Acts 8 Acts 8:1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. In some countries, a person who becomes a Christian forfeits a good education and job. And in a few countries, a person who converts risks his or her life. One church historian estimates that more Christians were martyred in the twentieth century than in all preceding centuries put together. Yet, strangely, more often than not, intense persecution of Christians leads to a spurt of growth in the church. An ancient saying expresses this phenomenon: "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." The First Big Advance For a while, the new faith enjoyed popular favor. But very soon it involved grave risk. In the book of Acts, the persecution that produced the first Christian martyr, St...
Comments
Post a Comment