Conviction

Conviction! What is conviction? Webster's defines it as the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth b : the state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth, and 3a : a strong persuasion or belief.

Every believer knows the power of conviction and regardless of if you feel convicted in your beliefs or convicted of sin, its the Holy Spirit at work in your life. (John 16:7-8, Jesus says, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (The Holy Spirit)will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:") Conviction is more than your emotions, and feelings. I cannot help but cry out my sins when I am convicted. I feel like even though God knows what wrong I have done, I have to tell Him. I then ask His forgiveness, and try my absolute best to not fail in that area again, seek out what His word says, and wisdom for the situation. Conviction of sin is differnt that conviction in your beliefs.

Alot of us feel convicted to not watch certain movies or programs that God would not consider honorable. This is just one instance, but we all have so many different beliefs. We are convicted of what the Holy Spirit brings to light and shows us. For example, there is a store in town I just loved. I say love, but its really nice, and we do not have too many great stores in town. I liked shopping there, and one day I dropped by, purchased a couple items, and they threw in a free t-shirt. Everyone can use a free tee, right? That's what I was thinking. Well, after I got home with the free shirt, I could not help but get the store's name and tagline out of my head. All of a sudden I felt completely convicted for shopping at this store. I never paid attention to the name, thought the store was fab, and had been oblivious to the signage. The name speaks everything I am against. The tagline of my blog, and life has always been, It's not mine, but His, meaning its all His and on loan to me for right now, everything!!! It's not about me, but Him and His work in me. This store was completely opposite of what I believe. Our society is filled with companies that want us to believe lies and that we are the most important thing around. I was strangely convicted to not spend my money there where they promote something other than I believe. I would much rather give my money to a better cause. I was convicted in my beliefs.

So whether you are convicted of sin or convicted in your beliefs, know it is from the Holy Spirit, and not just your emotions or a feeling of error in judgement. It is so much more than that, and conviction ultimately requires an action.

James 5:20 Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.