Day 29: Conviction
Scriptures:
Proverbs 3:12because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in
John 16:18 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
Romans 2: 1-4 So you can say nothing because you are guilty when you say someone else is guilty. While you say someone is guilty, you are doing the same things he does. 2 We know that God will say those who do such things are guilty. 3 Do you think God will punish others for doing wrong and let you keep sinning? 4 Do you forget about His loving-kindness to you? Do you forget how long He is waiting for you? You know that God is kind. He is trying to get you to be sorry for your sins and turn from them.
Song: He Wants It All
Happy Twenty- Ninth Days of Thanks Everyone!
Today, we give thanks for conviction. For it is through conviction that we have an internal alarm system which is sensitive enough to warn and reminds us when we are doing something that does not please God and merits repentance.
Several weeks ago, I saw a quote by Pastor YPJ on a social media platform that caught my attention and read like this: “A life absent conviction is headed for destruction. Those who lack conviction lack discretion. Those who lack discretion live reckless. Those who live recklessly will wreck inevitably.” The quote caught my attention because throughout this year, as I have been an overseer of a prayer community, the Lord has given me strong words, time and time again, to admonish people who had lost their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s conviction.
One day, as I was listening to the preaching going forth, a young lady got on our prayer call and my spirit instantaneously was grieved. The best way I can describe what I was feeling is to say that my whole body felt a distain and a disgust, as if something was making me feel utterly sick and my skin to crawl. Because I had no idea why my body and spirit began to feel that way, I began to pray and ask God what was happening. The young lady’s picture popped into my head and God began to reveal some things about her and said she was in imminent danger with him because of the amount of sin she had done before his eyes. I had never recognized the young lady on our prayer call before so I asked the prayer team afterwards if anyone had known her. It turns out that someone did know her but had not spoken to her in over ten years. That day was the day the two of them had decided to meet after all the years that had past. I let my prayer team member know what happened and told her that the young lady needed to be warned to stop doing what or living how she was currently doing.
After that day, I occasionally lifted the young lady in prayer but didn’t really see her on our prayer line to develop a rapport with her. One day as I was talking to another prayer partner, who has a prophetic gifting, she revealed to me that the Lord was saying to her that there was a young lady within our prayer community who God said was going to die, if she didn’t change her ways. My prayer partner said that the young lady liked the sin that she engaged in, although they were abominable sins before the Lord, making a complete mockery of Him. My prayer partner mentioned that this young lady thought that because others did not openly see all of her acts of sin, she would escape the judgement and wrath of God. I asked my prayer partner if the Lord had revealed who the young lady was and she said no. The Lord said that he would tell me at the right time to who I was supposed to give the word. My prayer partner and I began to urgently pray for this young lady and against the spirit of err within her.
Several weeks passed and I still didn’t hear from the Lord about for who the message was. I just continued to pray for the “unknown” person. One day on another prayer call, the same young lady from the months prior got on the call again and my spirit began to feel the similar type of disdain and disgust as before. This time, the Lord said to me clearly that I was to deliver that word from my prayer partner to her. The Lord said, “tell her that her sins are going to result in her imminent death if she continues.” Those words made the hairs on the back of my neck stand in fear. I wondered, “what in the world could this young lady be doing that God would be so firm and forceful and without wanting to show mercy. Several things transpired on the prayer call that day that were clearly demonic in nature and had to be bound and cast down. On of the prayer team members looked on the social media platforms of the young lady for who that word of the Lord was. The content on her sites made me grieve, let alone the Holy Spirit.
At the top of the social media page, the young lady confessed that she was a Christian and a “daughter of God” and yet everything on her page was completely contrary to what she confessed. She was almost completely naked in her media pages. She was partying and carrying on as if she was in and of the world. She had one video displaying her groping and gyrating onto another young woman and alluding to lesbian tendencies with her. What I saw made me sick to my stomach such that I couldn’t watch any more of the buffoonery. At that point, I understood the grief of the Holy Spirit and saw the magnitude of error that was operating in the young lady that she would classify herself as a Christian and openly and actively engage in all types of sin.
I sent word to one of her friends, one of our core prayer team members, and told her to tell the young lady to reach out to me as soon as possible. The young lady called me within a day. When we spoke, I asked her several initial questions to gauge her level of biblical knowledge and to have her define her Christianity for me. I then explained to her why I had asked her to call me. The word from the Lord startled her a bit but didn’t shock her. I asked her sincerely if she thought that her behaviors and words on her social media pages reflected Jesus. Repeatedly, she tried to explain to me that she and everyone in her sphere of influence knew that she was creating a fictitious image. At hearing her talk and explain herself, I was so saddened by the magnitude to which Satan had deceived her. I was saddened that as a Christian, which she professed to be for many years, she had no knowledge of the Word of God. I was also saddened that she had no sensitivity to the things of God or conviction, such that she completely convinced herself into thinking that her words and behaviors reflected God. Why was it that no one in spiritual authority/leadership over her had re-aligned her to the truth of God?
We had a talk for several hours. I begin to unfold biblical truths and precepts with her and told her that from that moment forward she could never claim that the word of Truth (bible) was not given to her. We saw exactly in the scriptures where her behaviors completely contradicted the laws and grace and mercy of God. We learned about several spirits that were within her and curses that she introduced into her life with the very acts of sin she committed. I let her ask me as many biblical questions as she desired. and I found and showed her the answers in the word. After several hours, we prayed and I invited her to rededicate her life to the Lord. I encouraged her to find a local Bible-believing church and to come to our prayer calls for support and to grow in the word of the Lord. Occasionally, I do follow-up with the young lady to see how she is doing. She doesn’t come to our prayer community very often but I tell her friends to continue encouraging her to do so.
Today as we give thanks for conviction, I’ll leave you to ponder more words from Pastor YPJ. “Our convictions serve as an alarm system to let us know when we’ve reached our limitation of God’s tolerance. When we don’t feel conviction, we assume there is no conviction or judgement. Thus, we convince ourselves that we are doing okay.” When was the last time you felt conviction? If recently, know that the Holy Spirit is still with you and bringing correction to you as the son/daughter He loves. However, if you have engaged or engage in wrongful acts and can’t bring yourself to be convicted, you are in serious trouble. You’ve lost your alarm system and since you’ve rejected God’s grace and mercy, now you will only experience his wrath.
I invite you to donate your time and financial resources to these two nonprofits Alliance of Families for Justice( https://afj-ny.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1) and “Hope is Alive” (https://www.classy.org/give/317438/#!/donation/checkout). They both do great work of restorative justice for folks that are working to restore their lives and their conviction.
Love Ya,
Have a Great Day of Thanks!
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